This project supports a workshop to bring together the Communication/ Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) Principal investigators and Guest Investigators, theoreticians, data analysts, and equatorial ionospheric physicists from the industry, academia, and government agencies. The presentations include results from the (C/NOFS) satellite, as well as other ground and space instruments such as RAIDS. Presentations highlight critical new insights into current understanding of the dynamics of the Ionosphere- Thermosphere (IT) system. The workshop goal is to identify the most important research challenges and develop strategies to address them.
The primary objective of the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) Science Workshop held on May 18 - 20, 2010 in Breckenridge, Colorado, was to address questions related to the dynamics of the equatorial ionosphere, how it is driven from above by the solar wind and from below by the troposphere and mesosphere. Results from the C/NOFS satellite, as well as other ground and space instruments such as RAIDS, were presented. Initial C/NOFS results have provided a unique opportunity to study the equatorial ionosphere during this unusually quiet solar minimum. Presentations highlighted critical new insights into our current understanding of the dynamics of the Ionosphere-Thermosphere (IT) system. Topics included: Topic 1: Solar wind effects, penetration electric fields, overshielding Topic 2: Neutral atmosphere, satellite drag, planetary waves, tides, stratospheric warmings and their influence on the ionosphere, RAIDS observations Topic 3: Plasma physics, waves, scintillation, irregularity formation and evolution Topic 4: Instruments and campaigns Topic 5: Space weather applications: models, validation, forecasts and specification The scientific sessions brings together the C/NOFS PIs and Guest Investigators, theoreticians, data analysts, and equatorial ionospheric physicists from the industry, academia, and government agencies in a workshop setting that includes both invited and contributed talks, posters, and discussions. The workshop goal is to identify the most important research challenges and develop strategies to address them.
