Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Global Riometer Array  (GLORIA)

Outline
The proposed activity is on behalf of the international Riometer community. The Global Riometer Array (GLORIA) is an international collaborative program including institutes from the UK, Canada, USA, Japan, China, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Finland, Russia, South Africa, and Australia for scientific investigation of the role of particle precipitation in the sun-earth connection and in particular understanding the coupling mechanism between the solar wind, magnetosphere and the ionosphere. Because of the configuration of the Earth's magnetic field and the adherence of charged particles to the field lines, the Arctic and Antarctic provide a window onto most of the Earth's magnetosphere. Riometers provide a ground-based method of measuring those charged particles which precipitate into the neutral atmosphere. Thus they both map particle populations in the magnetosphere and record the impact of magnetospheric processes onto the physics and chemistry of the middle atmosphere. There are currently over 24 imaging riometers and 53 wide-beam riometers located in the polar regions (polar cap and auroral zone) and as such are ideally situated to study the very dynamic processes that govern the precipitation of energetic particles from the solar wind and magnetosphere into the polar atmosphere. The spatial and temporal variations in the energy spectrum of the particle precipitation are key factors in identifying the magnetospheric acceleration processes as well as studying acceleration, propagation and terrestrial access of solar cosmic rays. Riometers monitor the precipitation of energetic electrons and protons. With the instruments now available in both polar regions we can consider the ground signatures of precipitation whilst monitoring the motion of particles within the magnetosphere using satellites (e.g. Cluster, DoubleStar, Geotail, LANL, GOES, etc). The relatively densely spaced, and constantly measuring, riometers provide a means to resolve spatial and temporal changes in the precipitation of particles that is difficult to achieve with satellite point measurements. For the IPY period, we are proposing continuous operation of all riometers and imaging riometers with data stored in a single location (or accessible from a single location) in order to achieve the following objectives through the GLORIA initiative: Direct measure of the morphology of precipitation Monitoring F region drifts and cusp activity in the polar cap Producing large scale maps of absorption Large scale coverage of global events such as geomagnetic storms Simultaneous day and night-side coverage Inter-hemisphere examination of precipitation

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
A significant part of the energy flow in the solar system is transferred via energetic charged particles. GLORIA will quantify temporal and spatial variability the energetic particle precipitation in the polar upper atmosphere in unprecedented detail (Theme 1). Data will be assimilated into models, thus improving model predictions (Theme 2) GLORIA will improve understanding of high-latitude energy deposition processes in terms of the global-scale energy budget (Theme 3) GLORIA will allow Inter-hemisphere examination of particle precipitation and monitoring F region drifts and cusp activity in the polar cap (Themes 4 and 5).

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
GLORIA is an international collaborative program including institutes from the UK, Canada, USA, Japan, China, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Germany, Russia, South Africa, and Australia. GLORIA is the only proposal made on behalf of the international Riometer Community to address the coupling mechanism between the solar wind, magnetosphere and the ionosphere in a global scale from the perspective of energetic particle precipitation.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Most riometers and imaging riometers are located within the arctic and antarctic circles, covering both the polar caps and auroral zones.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 2005-2010            
Antarctic: 2005-2010            

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
24 Imaging riometers and 56 riometers are already operational (in Arctic and Antarctic regions), two imaging riometers (ARIES and AIRIS) will become operational in 2005. Support is requested for upgrading some facilities and continuing operation for those that their funding is not secured.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
Riometers and imaging riometers are very robust instruments and have lifetimes on the order of decades, and hence will continue to be available long after the IPY provided national funding agencies support their operations.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Consortium
Own national polar operator
Another national polar operator
National agency

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
The timescales are such that the GLORIA proposal will be submitted to the UK IPY committee shortly after its submission as an EoI.

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?
New

GLORIA is a new project because while the riometers have been operating for some time, they have not previously been co-ordinated in this way. A memorandum of understanding for data/ software sharing has been produced and the aims and objectives of GLORIA were discussed at the first International Riometer Workshop at Ambleside, UK, in August 2004.

How will the project be organised and managed?
GLORIA is managed by all the Principal Investigators who are signatories of the GLORIA Memorandum of Agreement document. No formal meetings are envisaged and all correspondence will be through E-mail. For the purposes of discussing relevant issues an e-mail list gloria-admins@lists.lancs.ac.uk has been created. Participating institutes will host science and technical workshops on an informal bi-annual basis to promote collaboration and to discuss future developments. A scientific coordination meeting will occur prior to IPY for discussion of scientific priorities and participation.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
We will establish a web-site to co-ordinate and publicise GLORIA activities. Since riometers map the more energetic part of particle precipitation, about which there is otherwise very little global information, general public could be educated to understand and follow in real time the SUN-EARTH interactions as seen in actual effects in the upper atmosphere.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
As outlined in the GLORIA Memorandum of Agreement PIs will distribute data to their associated Co-Investigators, and collaborators. The University of Lancaster will archive copies of all riometer data, and make access available to other GLORIA institutions who wish to have their own copies of riometer data.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Most Riometers and Imaging Riometers are already funded by national research councils or equivalent agencies. For example, in UK, IRIS, and ARIES systems operated by Lancaster university are funded by PPARC and the Imaging Riometer System at Halley Bay is operated by BAS and is funded by NERC.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
Since the document does not allow to include more than six named co-investigators, many of our collaborators are not named but are part of GLORIA team and this initiative including Dr. Allan Weatherwax, and Prof. Ted Rosenberg (University of Maryland, USA), Dr Martin Jarvis (BAS, UK), Dr Vincenzo Romano (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy), Prof. Alexandr Frank-Kamenetsky (AARI, St.Petersburg, Russia), Prof. Alexander Zaitzev (IZMIRAN, Russia), Dr Pieter Stoker (South Africa), and Dr Phil Wilkinson (IPS Radio and Space Services, Australia), Dr Brian Fraser (University of Newcastle, Australia) and Dr Marc Duldig (Australian Antarctic Division). Other IPY EoIs that GLORIA will have a strong coordination with are: MULTIPLEX (by Ian McCrea, RAL, UK), and UAMPY (by Lucilla Alfonsi, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy).

PROPOSER DETAILS

Prof  FARIDEH HONARY
INFOLAB 21
Lancaster University
Lancaster
LA1 4WA
UK

Tel: 44-1524-510402
Mobile: no
Fax: 44-1524-510493
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation