Some Developments and Advances in the Study of Waves and Coupling in the Solar Terrestrial System under MAP and CAWSES

Some Developments and Advances in the Study of Waves and Coupling in the Solar Terrestrial System under MAP and CAWSES

C.H. Liu Academia Sinica and National Central University

Professor Marvin Gellar has played important leadership roles, both scientifically and organizationally, in two international programs organized by SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee on Solar Terrestrial Physics) to study, among other topics, the coupling in the solar-terrestrial system. The international Middle Atmosphere Program (MAP) in the 1980's focused on the physics, dynamics and chemistry of the region of the Earth's atmosphere from about 1 km to about 100 km. The Climate and Weather in Sun-Earth System (CAWSES) program was established to enhance our understanding of the space environment and its impacts on life and society. Under these two programs, new theories were proposed and novel observational techniques were invented to investigate the couplings in the sun-earth system.

The important roles of different types of waves play in the coupling processes need to be investigated both in theory and in observation. During MAP, a special type of atmospheric radar, the so-called Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Trofosphere (MST) radar was developed to afford scientists a better look at waves and turbulence in the middle atmosphere with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. Many interesting results have been obtained. Meanwhile, as CAWSES has been progressing, GPS Radio Occultation (GPSRO) technique has been developed that can generate ionospheric electron density profiles globally on a routine basis. The data are crucial to the space weather studies, including how waves and tides generated in the lower atmosphere affect the ionosphere. More importantly, the launching of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FORMOSAT3/COSMIC) in 2006 based on the GPSRO technique has demonstrated the operational capability of such constellations for improving weather forecasting, hurricane track prediction as well as climate monitoring. In this talk, some of these developments and new findings will be presented.