|
POLARIS international team at ISSI
The work performed under ECSTRA was the starting point for a collaborative initiative that
materialized in a Proposal for an International Team in Space Science, submitted to the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern. The proposal, chaired by Dr. Octav
Marghitu and Prof. Joachim Vogt, and addressing Plasma coupling in the auroral
magnetosphere–ionosphere system (POLARIS), was accepted by ISSI in June 2010. The
POLARIS project is currently executed by an international team of 10 people from Austria,
Finland, Germany, Romania, Sweden, and USA. In addition, ISSI supports the participation
of three young scientists, Costel Bunescu and Vlad Constantinescu from ISS, and Eugen
Sorbalo from JUB.
POLARIS investigates M-I coupling modes in the Harang region, by exploring the 3-D
configuration and temporal evolution of the system during the various substorm phases.
Specific issues under examination are the configuration of the auroral current circuit, the
plasma convection and electric field, the energy conversion and transfer between
magnetosphere and ionosphere. Due to a unique constellation of spacecraft missions and
ground facilities, it is possible at present to probe the plasma and electromagnetic field in all
the key regions of the M–I coupling chain. Data from the THEMIS mission in the inner
plasma sheet, from the Cluster spacecraft at the top side of the auroral acceleration region
(AAR), from low altitude satellites like FAST, REIMEI, or DMSP below the AAR, and from
ground based observatories, enable a comprehensive exploration of the plasma coupling in
the auroral M–I system. More details are available on the project web site.
A natural follow-up of ECSTRA, tightly related to POLARIS, was briefly described in a
Letter of Intent regarding Magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling in the Harang region,
submitted to the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) in March 2009.
Participation in the Swarm mission
Swarm is a three-satellite ESA mission, to be launched in July 2012, whose main task is the
investigation of the near-Earth magnetic field, by quantifying the contributions from internal
and external sources. Following the Swarm Science and Validation Opportunity (SSVO) Call,
issued by ESA in the summer of 2011, Dr. Octav Marghitu coordinated a science proposal,
Auroral electrodynamics with Swarm (ALEOS). Implications for the magnetosphere–
ionosphere–thermosphere system, recently accepted by ESA. ALEOS was joined by a team
of Co-Investigators that includes Dr. Adrian Blagau and Dr. Dragos Constantinescu from
ISS, as well as international experts from Germany (Jacobs University Bremen and
GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam), Canada (University of Calgary), Sweden (Royal Institute
of Technology and Institute for Space Physics), and Finland (Finish Meteorological Institute).
ALEOS plans to take advantage of the high resolution multi-point data provided by Swarm at
the ionosphere--thermosphere (I–T) end of the M–I–T system, complementary to multi-point
data from Cluster and THEMIS. The project will focus on ionospheric electrodynamics, with
emphasis on the auroral region. More specifically, the project will concentrate on: (a)
observation of gradients along auroral arcs (in electric field, field-aligned currents, etc), and
adjustment of the present, mostly 1D arc models; (b) examination of 2D electrodynamics of
the aurora, taking full advantage of data from all three Swarm satellites; (c) proper
consideration of the neutral wind influence on the auroral electrodynamics. (d) investigation
of the I–T role in the coupled M–I–T system, using both Swarm data and observations from
higher altitudes, in particular from the Cluster and THEMIS missions.
Dr. Adrian Blagau and Dr. Octav Marghitu participate also as Co-Investigators in a data
validation proposal, Validation of Swarm L-1b products in the topic areas of geomagnetic
field, ionosphere/thermosphere, and geodesy, coordinated by Prof. Hermann Luehr from
GeoForshungsZentrum Potsdam. ISS will collaborate with Jacobs University Bremen to
develop validation methods that rely on multi-point techniques.
Proposal consortia
ECSTRA enabled the participation to international proposal consortia, like the instrument
teams of the Cross Scale mission, possible collaborations to experiments of the KuaFu
mission, the participation in the Alfvèn: Magnetosphere–Ionosphere Connection Explorers
mission, and the participation in Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate proposals. While these
initiatives did not materialize so far, the topics addressed are still actively pursued and have
increased potential to generate future collaborative projects. Letters of Intent regarding
Romanian participation in the ion and electron experiments of the Cross Scale mission as
well as Romanian participation in the KuaFu mission were submitted to ROSA in March
2009.
|
