NADIR: Neutral Atmosphere Density Interdisciplinary Research

NADIR (Neutral Atmosphere Density Interdisciplinary Research) is a five-year (2007-2012) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The objective of NADIR is to significantly advance understanding of drag forces on satellites, including density, winds, and factors affecting the drag coefficient, in order to enable more accurate predictive capability. The scope of NADIR encompasses improving forecasts of magnetospheric, solar EUV and lower-atmosphere wave forcing; internal processes and thermosphere-ionosphere coupling; energy partitioning at high latitudes; driver-response relationships; and drag and drag coefficient predictions in the reentry region. Recent research highlights spanning these areas will be presented, including such topics as far-side imaging of the Sun, forecasting solar events using solar magnetograms, density response to high-speed solar wind streams and northward magnetic field, and thermosphere density variations associated with the midnight temperature maximum and with non-migrating tides and stratospheric warmings in the lower atmosphere.