Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effects in Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research  (ICESTAR)

Outline
Near-earth space (geospace) is an integral part of the Earth system, providing the material link between the Sun and Earth and posing a potential hazard to space-born and ground-based technology on which Society is increasingly dependent. Under standing the complex near-earth environment has matured enough to being able to describe many of the geospace components; and a major goal is now to seek a unified frame work that can specify and predict the geospace global state and, therefore, "space weather". ICESTAR will coordinate multinational research on teleconnection between the magnetosphere and ionosphere, and on the inter-hemispheric conjugate relationships. The coupling of the magnetosphere-ionosphere processes with the neutral atmosphere (i.e., thermosphere, mesosphere, and stratosphere) is a new challenging research area with several open questions. Many countries have made significant investments to build sophisticated ground-based instrumentation to cover both polar regions recently, especially in Antarctica. These regions offer privileged opportunities to monitor the geospace plasma processes because the geomagnetic field converges there, allowing charged magnetospheric particles to precipitate into the ionosphere and induce magnificent aurora borealis and aurora australis. The polar areas with only minor anthropogenic influences also provide ideal conditions for observing the consequent geospace effects to the neutral atmosphere. Thus, the improved bi-polar observation capabilities will yield unprecedented opportunities to study especially the following topics: Quantifying and understanding the similarities and differences between the Northern and Southern polar upper atmospheres under the varying influence of the solar electromagnetic radiation and of the solar wind. Quantifying the effects on the polar ionosphere and atmosphere of the magnetospheric electromagnetic fields and plasma populations, from the radiation belts to the tail plasma. Quantifying the atmospheric consequences of the global electric circuit and further understanding the electric circuit in the middle atmosphere as guided by the electric fields generated at the solar wind-magnetosphere interface. To facilitate the international collaboration and data-sharing according to modern information management techniques, ICESTAR will establish a portal on the World Wide Web for geospace data and metadata and for tools to extract and reduce these data into value-added products. The portal will appear as a set of Virtual Observatories as introduced in the Electronic Geophysical Year concept (http://www.egy.org).

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
IPY Themes 3 and 5: ICESTAR will focus on the integrated, quantitative description of the geospace environment through both polar regions, addressing the basic states of the polar upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere, understanding interhemispheric differences in the geospace electro- and plasma-dynamics due to seasonal effects and asymmetries in the geomagnetic field, studying the inner-magnetospheric dynamics as controlled by varying external forces (e.g., space weather storms), and connecting the global atmospheric electric circuit to the ionospheric currents driven by magnetospheric processes. The ICESTAR will serve as one concrete, scientifically motivated starting point, "flesh around the bones", for establishment of the eGY Virtual Observatories network.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
ICESTAR comprises collaboration between 13 countries (Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, Ukraine, and U.S.A.) and with the international scientific programs "Climate and Weather in Sun-Earth System" (SCOSTEP), "Electronic Geophysical Year" (IUGG), and the International Heliospheric Year and International Living With a Star initiatives.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
ICESTAR will not conduct specific field campaigns, but will utilize observations of several continuously operating instrument networks that are established and maintained as international and national facilities. These networks typically consist of tens of observing sites, covering polar regions as evenly as possible within the limits of reasonable maintenance cost.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: Continuously, c.f. above            
Antarctic: Continuously, c.f. above            

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
The project uses in large extent already operating observatories. The gaps in the observation network will be indentified before IPY and the relevant research institutes and funding agencies will be encouraged to deploy the missing instrumentation and arrange the necessary logistics. The status of a official IPY programme would facilitate these activities.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
In addition to the anticipated results of the proposed scientific research, the ICESTAR Web portal and virtual observatories will be designed so that their maintenance and upgrading will meet the challenges of the IPY and the follow-on solar activity maximum period (2010-2011).

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Consortium
National agency

Most of the proposed activities will be supported through the National Antarctic Research Programs. The coordinated international logistical effort is required for the deployment of the Super Dual Auroral Radar (SuperDARN) systems at the French-Italian Antarctic station Concordia and at the one of national research stations in the Antarctic Peninsula.

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
SCAR has endorsed the establishment of the ICESTAR data portal and the dissemination of scientific results in a sequence of the dedicated workshops during the 2005-2009 timeframe with US$75,000. Salaries the participating scientists and maintenance costs of the instrumentation will be covered by the national and international research programmes.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
Expansion

As a component of the SCAR Research Programme, ICESTAR will catalyze coordinated usage of the new Internet-based technologies for dissemination and analysis of geospace and aeronomy data obtained from polar instrumentation networks. The project will specifically focus on the "deployment" of the Polar Research Virtual Observatories in cyberspace.

How will the project be organised and managed?
The project will have three thematic action groups for the science issues (listed in point 1.3) and one group dedicated to the building of the data portal. The overall project management will be provided by the project's rotating Steering Committee that coordinates international activities in the data collection and topical research.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
The creation of the ICESTAR Web portal and deployment of the Polar Research Virtual Observatories in cyberspace will carry the education, outreach and communication aspects of the programme.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
The ICESTAR geospace data will be made available to the worldwide scientific community through the project's Web portal and a series of Virtual Observatories for specific disciplines. The data will also be managed together (and through) with the ICSU World Data Centers and with the SCAR Joint Committee for Antarctic Data Management.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
ICESTAR will have a seed funding from SCAR (US$30,000; 2007-2008) to focus on the wide usage of ICESTAR metadata and data in order to tackle selected problems of the quantification of the states of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere over the Arctic and Antarctic for a wide range of geophysical conditions.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
None

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Kirsti Kauristie
P.O.B. 503
Vuorikatu 15A, Helsinki
FIN-00101
Finland

Tel: +358-9-19294637
Mobile: no
Fax: +358-9-19294603
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation