SCAR Scientific Research Programme ICESTAR: Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effects in SolarTerrestrial a

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SCAR Scientific Research Programme ICESTAR
Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effects in
Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy ResearchLinking
Near-Earth Space to Polar Regions
Standing Scientific Group on Physical
SciencesReport to SCAR DelegatesOctober 3-9,
2004, Bremerhaven, Germany
Allan Weatherwax1, Kirsti Kauristie2, Maurizio
Candidi3, and ICESTAR Planning Group 1Siena
College, New York, U.S.A. 2Finnish Meteorological
Institute, Helsinki, Finland 3CNR, Roma, Italy
Vladimir Papitashvili (Former Leader of the
ICESTAR Planning Group) Space Physics Research
Laboratory University of Michigan, U.S.A.
2
SCAR-supported ICESTAR Workshop Institut
Oceanologique, Villefranche sur mer, France,
April 22-23, 2004
http//maggy.engin.umich.edu/mist/icestar/icestar.
html (25 attendees)
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SCAR Scientific Research Programme ICESTAR
Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effectsin
Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research

• Challenge
• Understand geospace environment and its dynamical
  response to external forcing from solar activity

• ICESTAR Main Goals
• To identify and quantify various mechanisms that
  control interhemi-spheric regional differences
  and/or commonalities in the electrodynamics of
  the Earth's magnetosphere iono-sphere system
  and aeronomy of the upper atmosphere over the
  Arctic and Antarctic
• and
• To develop a virtual data portal that will link
  together a large number of globally distributed
  geophysical databases, including both data
  serving applications and visualization tools
  this will enable a systems view of the polar
  upper atmosphere and geospace

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SCAR Scientific Research Programme ICESTAR
Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effectsin
Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research
At the programme-planning Workshop, we outlined
scientific backgrounds, goals, objectives, and
potential implementation plans for establishing
under the auspices of SCAR a five-year
international scientific research programme for
coordinated bi-polar research in the fields of
STP and polar aeronomy
Science and Implementation Plan Expected
duration 2005 2009 Expected SCAR funding US
75,000 Endorsed by SCARs Standing Scientific
Group on Physical Sciences July 28,
2004 http//maggy.engin.umich.edu/mist
/icestar/icestar.html
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Brief Outline

• In this presentation, we address the uniqueness
  of the new ICESTAR Programme that for the first
  time will focus on quantification of various
  mechanisms that control the bi-polar (global and
  regional) differences and commonalities in the
  Earths magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling
  processes, and the corresponding upper
  atmospheric phenomena over both the Northern and
  Southern polar regions
• These bi-polar (interhemispherically conjugate)
  phenomena might be intrinsic to the polar
  ionosphere/upper atmosphere, or might be caused
  by the long-term and/or abrupt changes in the
  near-Earth electromagnetic environment forced by
  the solar activity (i.e., geomagnetic storms and
  substorms)
• It is suggested that SCAR will lead this new
  initiative in close collaboration with the
  countries which are involved in the Arctic
  research, and possibly with the International
  Arctic Science Committee (IASC)

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ICESTAR Outstanding Questions

• How the states of Earth's magneto- sphere differ
  qualitatively and quanti-tatively under extreme,
  moderate, and quiet solar wind conditions?
• What is common and what is different in the
  solar-terrestrial and aeronomi-cal phenomena
  observed over both the Arctic and Antarctic?
• Does the auroral activity during sub-storms arise
  from instabilities in the ionosphere or does this
  aurora simply mirror plasma motions in the outer
  magnetosphere?

• To what extent are the ionized and neutral
  high-latitude upper atmo-spheric regions affected
  by mecha-nical and electrodynamic inputs from the
  lower atmosphere?
• How does the global electric circuit effect the
  ionosphere state? How this circuit is closed
  between the low and high latitudes?

Thus, it is important and timely to act now
to study the polar regions in their
interhemispheric context from observations in
space and over the Arctic and Antarctic
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Rationale for the ICESTAR Scientific Research
Programme

• Emergence of New Datasets. The volume of
  experimental data have been increasing
  significantly in recent years. It is the right
  time to begin to create tools to examine the
  entire system as a whole utilizing all of the
  geospace data.
• Emergence of Grid technology. The Grid is just
  starting to be defined, and has yet to find a
  real niche. The seamless sharing of data is one
  possibility, and the creation of visualization
  tools that can utilize globally distributed
  datasets will push the limits of the current
  technologies.

• Enable Easy Access to Distributed Data. Many
  research groups are creating data assimilation
  tools which require the use of as many data
  sources as possible. The ICESTAR data portal will
  enable these developments to grow.
• Uniqueness of Antarctica. The Antarctic continent
  offers a unique vantage point for examining the
  near-earth space, spanning from the top of the
  troposphere, through the stratosphere,
  mesosphere, thermosphere and ionosphere, and into
  the magnetosphere.

• Focused Science. The ICESTAR is intended to both
  enable and to conduct focused scientific research
  on the upper atmosphere above the Antarctic and
  how that region of space ties in with the global
  system.

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SCAR Scientific Research Programme ICESTAR
Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effectsin
Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research

• ICESTAR will have four Thematic Action Groups
  (TAGs) specifically focusing on
• Quantifying and understanding the similarities
  and differences between the Northern and Southern
  polar upper atmospheres
• Quantifying the atmospheric consequences of the
  global electric circuit and further understanding
  the electric circuit in the middle atmosphere
• Quantifying the dynamics of the inner
  magnetospheric particles and fields and the
  consequences of those dynamics on the polar
  atmosphere
• Creating a data portal that will integrate all of
  the polar data sets and modeling results this
  data portal will enable the research to be
  conducted by the other TAGs

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ICESTAR Deliverables

• ICESTAR will deliver a wide variety of products
  ranging from a better scientific understanding of
  the polar atmosphere to a Web-based virtual
  data collection system
• A Web-based data portal that will enable
  scientists to create a systems view of the polar
  regions
• Quantification of seasonal differences in the
  polar ionospheric conductance and its effects on
  magnetospheric, ionospheric, and thermospheric
  dynamics
• Constrains on the models based on conjugate
  remote sensing of inner magnetospheric dynamics
• Characterization of the basic state of the polar
  middle atmosphere
• Quantification of the AC and DC global
  atmospheric circuit and its effects on the
  ionospheric state
• Characterization of the spatial and temporal
  properties of mesoscale convection in the
  ionosphere

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ICESTAR Milestones
20052006 Start of the ICESTAR Programme Collect
information and coordinate observations at the
existing instrumental arrays in the Arctic and
Antarctic aiming specifically at interhemispheric
studies, including global development of the
magnetic storms and substorms over the polar
regions promote the deployment of new
instruments where current gaps exist. 20072008 Ma
in Phase (coincides with IPY) Develop
time-dependent models of the global electric
circuits controlled by external drivers couple
these models with the potential input from
atmospheric processes including global
thunderstorms. 2009 Closure or Renewal Phase
Consider termination or extension of the ICESTAR
programme based on its progress and
accomplishments.
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SCAR Scientific Research Programme ICESTAR
Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effectsin
Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research
Budget cycle 20042006 40,000 Spring 2005
(10,000) Data portal specification meeting
focusing on Identification and metadata
description of all available Antarctic data
Identification of all Web sites making data and
metadata available Identification of available
value-added products on-line and off-line
Prioritization of data and products based on
science goals Year 2005 (10,000) Creation of
ICESTAR metadata catalogue on the ICESTAR Web
portal Summer 2006 (10,000) ICESTAR Data Portal
meeting, XXIX SCAR Announcement to SCAR
science community of metadata catalogue
Strategy for linking existing on-line sites
together and providing on-line services for all
known geospace data and products Year 2006
(10,000) Development of the ICESTAR Data Portal
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SCAR Scientific Research Programme ICESTAR
Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effectsin
Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research
Budget cycle 20062008 35,000 Spring 2007
(15,000) ICESTAR Science Community
Workshop Workshop centered on using ICESTAR
metadata and the data portal to tackle selected
problems/event studies in TAG A-C science Note
this will be good community project for the
IPY-4 Summer 2008 (10,000) ICESTAR Special
Session, XXX SCAR Presentation of full ICESTAR
data portal capabilities and science outputs from
the community workshop Summer 2009 (10,000)
ICESTAR Forward Look Workshop Review of
ICESTAR achievements and way forward Thus, the
total requested SCAR funding for the proposed
ICESTAR Programme is U.S. 75,000 for 5 years
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SCAR Scientific Research Programme ICESTAR
Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effectsin
Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research
ICESTAR Steering Committee (Energy and
Experience) Chairman Allan
Weatherwax U.S.A. Ph.D. -
1995 Co-Chairwoman Kirsti Kauristie
Finland Ph.D. - 1997 TAG A Leader Martin
Fullekrug U.K. Ph.D. - 1994 TAG B
Leader Eftyhia Zesta U.S.A.
Ph.D. - 1997 TAG C Co- Nikolai
Østgaard Norway Ph.D. - 1999
Leaders Scott Palo U.S.A.
Ph.D. - 1994 TAG D Leader Aaron Ridley
U.S.A. Ph.D. - 1997 Lead Member
Brian Fraser Australia Lead Member
Ruiyuan Liu P. R. China Lead
Member Natsuo Sato Japan SSG/PS
Deputy Chair, ex officio Maurizio Candidi (Italy)
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ICESTAR Summary and Thrust

• The greatest challenge facing environmental
  science and policy is understanding the
  interactions between, and collective behavior of,
  the many component parts of the Earth system,
  including the interaction between the natural
  environment and human society.
• Near-Earth space (geospace) is an integral part
  of the Earth system, providing the material link
  between the Sun and Earth, primarily through the
  polar regions, and posing a potential hazard to
  space-borne and ground based technology on which
  Society is increasingly dependent.
• The Initial Outline Science Plan for the
  International Polar Year 20072008, issued by the
  ICSUs IPY Planning Group in April 2004
  (www.ipy.org), proposes five main science themes
  to address.
• Although the IPY main focus will be to determine
  the present environ-mental status of the polar
  regions and their connections to the potential
  global climate changes, its Fifth Theme calls
  for
• To use the unique vantage point of the
  polar regions to develop and enhance
  observatories studying the Earths inner core,
  the Earths magnetic field, geospace, the Sun and
  beyond.
• This is a major thrust of the proposed ICESTAR
  Programme.