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 SCIENCE?
CASE goals involve investigating the changes in lower, middle, and upper Earth’s atmosphere to energy deposition from the Sun, galactic and extragalactic sources (radiation; solar wind flux/density; interplanetary magnetic field; energetic particles, relativistic or not, etc.). Mainly, CASE focuses on the susceptibility of the Earth’s atmosphere and near Space to changes in the Earth’s climate.
CASE was founded by former scientists from the Arecibo Observatory (AO) and is compromised with the legacy of the Space and atmospheric sciences carried by AO since the 1960s through the operation of units of the Climate Center for Open Research and Education (CCORE) “link here” in Puerto Rico.
RESEARCH AREAS
CLIMATE
The climate and its changes in the Earth’s upper atmosphere modify atmospheric circulation, affect the ionosphere and its irregularities, and impact the charged particles in the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. The societal impact of these changes has significant implications for modern technologies, including satellites. The ability to model and predict climate and future changes goes beyond local and global weather. It also depends on understanding the Earth’s atmosphere as a coupled system. Observing different regions of the Earth’s atmosphere using combined optical and radio techniques and extensive databases is crucial to advancing climate research. With this vision, the CASE group operates a cluster of ground-based instrumentation at CCORE units in the Caribbean, which currently has an observational capability ranging from ~20km to ~300km of altitude.
AERONOMY
Aeronomy is the study of the physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere, including the different properties of the neutral and ionized atmosphere. Temperature distribution and gas escape are also areas covered by aeronomy and studies of cosmic rays; airglow and radioactive and photochemical phenomena; ionosphere; and Van Allen radiation belts, among other atmospheric tracings and forcings. The cluster of equipment hosted at CCORE units (link here) operated by the CASE group meets observational needs for the development of aeronomic science. Furthermore, the collaboration between our team and local and foreign institutions allows for an increase in the scope of study in this area of atmospheric sciences.
INSTRUMENTATION
The CASE group observes the Earth’s atmosphere and near Space through optical and radar observations from ground-based instruments at CCORE
This information was written by Dr. Pedrina Terra, a member of the Climate and Space Science group at Florida Space Institute.