Collaborative Research: DASI Track 2--A Distributed Meteor Radar and Optical Network in South America

This project will establish a distributed network of meteor radars and optical instruments in the mid-latitudes of South America, providing continuous measurements of upper atmospheric winds and nighttime wave perturbations in the mesosphere and thermosphere. This network will be able to make multi-point observations to resolve detailed four-dimensional (spatial and temporal) structures of small-scale (tens to hundreds km) waves. These small-scale waves are known to be a key player in driving variabilities at all spatial and temporal scales in this region and this network will provide a much-needed dataset for investigations of these waves and their impacts. The project will provide opportunities to a postdoctoral researcher and Ph.D. students to gain real world experience in working at remote areas to conduct engineering and research work. The project will also promote strong international collaboration with scientists from the United States, Germany, Chile, and Argentina, and will strengthen the ground-based network of instruments for geospace observations in South America. This network will be built upon two NSF-funded projects to fully leverage the existing infrastructure and expertise that are already developed through NSF’s investments: a Major Research Instrumentation project that supported the deployment of a multi-static meteor radar (MR) system in northern Chile; and an NSF Distributed Array of Small Instruments project MANGO (Midlatitude Allsky-imaging Network for GeoSpace Observations) that established a network across the continental United States with multiple all-sky imagers and Fabry-Perot Interferometers (FPIs). This project will expand the MR system by adding two additional receiver stations, establish an optical network with airglow imagers and an FPI and a data infrastructure to promptly retrieve and share all data products, based on instruments and software developed in MANGO. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.