RESEARCH: CLIMATE AND SPACE SCIENCE
Part of our research at Florida Space Institute encompasses Climate and Space Science (CASE), which combines frontier research, education, and instrumentation, aiming to better understand the Earth’s atmosphere and the near-space environment as an interconnected system.
WHAT IS CLIMATE AND SPACE SCIENCES?
The focus of the Climate and Space Sciences (CASE) research at FSI is to understand how changes in the Earth’s climate impact the atmosphere and near space. This involves studying the alterations occurring in the Earth’s atmosphere’s lower, middle, and upper layers due to energy input from the Sun and galactic and extragalactic sources. Key factors include radiation, solar wind flux and density, the interplanetary magnetic field, and energetic particles (whether relativistic or not).
CASE was established by former scientists from the Arecibo Observatory (AO). It is committed to upholding the vital legacy of space and atmospheric sciences that AO championed from the 1960s until its closure in 2023. To this end, CASE operates a ground-based observational facility within the Climate Center for Open Research and Education (CCORE) in Puerto Rico.
RESEARCH AREAS
CLIMATE
The terrestrial climate and its changes significantly impact the upper regions of Earth’s atmosphere by modifying atmospheric circulation, affecting the ionosphere and its irregularities, and influencing the interaction of charged particles in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. Consequently, modeling and predicting terrestrial climate and its future changes extend beyond local and global weather investigations; they also require a comprehensive understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere as a connected system.
The ability to observe various regions of the Earth’s atmosphere using a combination of optical and radio techniques, along with extensive databases, is crucial for advancing climate research. With this goal in mind, the CASE group operates a cluster of ground-based instrumentation at the CCORE units in the Caribbean, which currently has observational capabilities spanning altitudes from approximately 20 km to 300 km.
AERONOMY
Aeronomy involves the study of the physics and chemistry of the Earth’s upper atmosphere, including the different properties of the neutral and ionized atmospheres. Aeronomic research findings have significant implications for modern technologies, including satellites.
The CASE team at FSI operates a cluster of ground-based instruments at CCORE that supports several studies in aeronomy. In addition, our collaborations with local and foreign institutions have broadened our scope of research in this field of atmospheric sciences.
INSTRUMENTATION
The CASE group observes the Earth’s atmosphere and near Space through optical and radio observations from ground-based instruments at CCORE.
This information was written by Dr. Pedrina Terra, lead scientist of the Climate and Space Science group at Florida Space Institute.