Large-Scale Measurements of Thermospheric Dynamics with a Multisite Fabry-Perot Interferometer Network: Overview of Plans and Results from Midlatitude Measurements
The North American Thermosphere Ionosphere Observing Network (NATION), comprising a new network of Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs), to be deployed in the Midwest of the United States of America is described. FPIs will initially be deployed to four sites to make coordinated measurements of the neutral winds and temperature in the Earth's thermosphere using measurements of the 630？nm redline emission. The observing strategy of the network will take into account local observing conditions, and common volume measurements from multiple sites will be made in order to estimate local vector wind quantities. The network described is expandable, and as additional FPI sites are installed in North America, or elsewhere, the goal of providing the upper atmospheric research community with a robust dataset of neutral winds and temperatures can be achieved. 1. Introduction The thermosphere is the crucial boundary between the Earth’s lower atmosphere and space. Low Earth orbiting satellites and other objects in the upper thermosphere are strongly affected by the lifting of the atmosphere that results from space weather heating events (e.g., [1–3]). In addition, space weather driven by thermospheric dynamics can cause important degradations in engineering capabilities society depends on, such as the accuracy and availability of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and radio transmissions (e.g., [4–7]). Empirical models, such as the Horizontal Wind Model (HWM07, [8]) and NRLMSISE-00 [9], are useful in providing general climatologies of thermospheric parameters, but fall short in providing a realistic representation of the neutral dynamics that can be applied to space weather forecasting. To help improve our understanding of the thermosphere/ionosphere (TI) system and its role in the bigger picture of the geospace system, understanding of the various pathways of energy transfer within the geospace system needs to be improved. These pathways include the transfer of energy from the ground into the upper atmosphere by means of waves of various scales including gravity, tidal, and planetary waves; space downward into the upper atmosphere through the absorption of solar energy or modification of global electric and magnetic fields during geomagnetic storm activity; and the polar or equatorial regions toward the midlatitudes by traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs) as well as tidal and planetary wave dynamics. There are considerable challenges in being able to fully understand, much less simulate in real time, these complex physical processes of the
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