Cross-Scale Coupling and Energy Transfer in the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere System


Book Description

Cross-Scale Coupling and Energy Transfer in the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere System provides a systematic understanding of Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere dynamics. Cross-scale coupling has become increasingly important in the Space Physics community. Although large-scale processes can specify the averaged state of the system reasonably well, they cannot accurately describe localized and rapidly varying structures in space in actual events. Such localized and variable structures can be as intense as the large-scale features. This book covers observations on quantifying coupling and energetics and simulation on evaluating impacts of cross-scale processes. It includes an in-depth review and summary of the current status of multi-scale coupling processes, fundamental physics, and concise illustrations and plots that are usable in tutorial presentations and classrooms. Organized by physical quantities in the system, Cross-Scale Coupling and Energy Transfer in the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere System reviews recent advances in cross-scale coupling and energy transfer processes, making it an important resource for space physicists and researchers working on the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere. Describes frontier science and major science around M-I-T coupling, allowing for foundational understanding of this emerging field in space physics Reviews recent and key findings in the cutting-edge of the science Discusses open questions and pathways for understanding how the field is evolving







Modeling the Ionosphere-Thermosphere


Book Description

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 201. Modeling the Ionosphere-Thermosphere System brings together for the first time a detailed description of the physics of the IT system in conjunction with numerical techniques to solve the complex system of equations that describe the system, as well as issues of current interest. Volume highlights include discussions of: Physics of the ionosphere and thermosphere IT system, and the numerical methods to solve the basic equations of the IT system The physics and numerical methods to determine the global electrodynamics of the IT system The response of the IT system to forcings from below (i.e., the lower atmosphere) and from above (i.e., the magnetosphere) The physics and numerical methods to model ionospheric irregularities Data assimilation techniques, comparison of model results to data, climate variability studies, and applications to space weather Providing a clear description of the physics of this system in several tutorial-like articles, Modeling the Ionosphere-Thermosphere System is of value to the upper atmosphere science community in general. Chapters describing details of the numerical methods used to solve the equations that describe the IT system make the volume useful to both active researchers in the field and students.




Middle Atmosphere


Book Description

PAGEOPH, stratosphere, these differences provide us with new evidence, interpretation of which can materially help to advance our understanding of stratospheric dynamics in general. It is now weil established that smaller-scale motions-in particular gravity waves and turbulence-are of fundamental importance in the general circulation of the mesosphere; they seem to be similarly, if less spectacularly, significant in the troposphere, and probably also in the stratosphere. Our understanding of these motions, their effects on the mean circulation and their mutual interactions is progressing rapidly, as is weil illustrated by the papers in this issue; there are reports of observational studies, especially with new instruments such as the Japanese MV radar, reviews of the state of theory, a laboratory study and an analysis of gravity waves and their effects in the high resolution "SKYHI" general circulation model. There are good reasons to suspect that gravity waves may be of crucial significance in making the stratospheric circulation the way it is (modeling experience being one suggestive piece of evidence for this). Direct observational proof has thus far been prevented by the difficulty of making observations of such scales of motion in this region; in one study reported here, falling sphere observations are used to obtain information on the structure and intensity of waves in the upper stratosphere.




The Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere


Book Description

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 87. This volume provides a review of progress made in recent years in experimental and theoretical investigation of the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere and coupling between these regions and the ionosphere. Detailed study of the mesosphere/lower thermosphere/ionosphere (MLTI) region has historically been difficult because of its relative inaccessibility to direct measurement techniques and the complex and highly coupled processes which occur there. Although we have still not successfully unraveled all these complex interactions, we have made significant recent progress toward a fuller understanding of the basic state of the MLTI and of the dominant wave and coupling processes. This monograph includes a set of tutorial papers, which review our current understanding of aspects of the MLTI. These tutorials are interspersed with a selection of papers describing research progress on various topics of current interest in this region. The book should therefore be useful both to the newcomer, as an introduction to this field of research, and to the more experienced researcher, providing an overview of research in progress as well as a convenient reference collection of papers describing our current understanding.




Solar and Space Physics


Book Description

In 2010, NASA and the National Science Foundation asked the National Research Council to assemble a committee of experts to develop an integrated national strategy that would guide agency investments in solar and space physics for the years 2013-2022. That strategy, the result of nearly 2 years of effort by the survey committee, which worked with more than 100 scientists and engineers on eight supporting study panels, is presented in the 2013 publication, Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society. This booklet, designed to be accessible to a broader audience of policymakers and the interested public, summarizes the content of that report.




The Atmosphere and Climate of Mars


Book Description

Humanity has long been fascinated by the planet Mars. Was its climate ever conducive to life? What is the atmosphere like today and why did it change so dramatically over time? Eleven spacecraft have successfully flown to Mars since the Viking mission of the 1970s and early 1980s. These orbiters, landers and rovers have generated vast amounts of data that now span a Martian decade (roughly eighteen years). This new volume brings together the many new ideas about the atmosphere and climate system that have emerged, including the complex interplay of the volatile and dust cycles, the atmosphere-surface interactions that connect them over time, and the diversity of the planet's environment and its complex history. Including tutorials and explanations of complicated ideas, students, researchers and non-specialists alike are able to use this resource to gain a thorough and up-to-date understanding of this most Earth-like of planetary neighbours.