AIM/GLOBE partnership: providing remote sensing opportunities for students and teachers to study Noctilucent Clouds
“Aeronomy of Ice In the Mesosphere” (AIM), is a NASA satellite-based research mission scheduled to launch in September 2006. AIM is dedicated to providing a scientific basis for understanding why Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs) form and vary. PMCs are sometimes known as Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) or “night shinning” clouds because of their visibility during or just before and after twilight. NLCs may well be the only truly visible atmospheric phenomenon associated with global atmospheric change. These clouds that form ~ 50km above the earth, surface usually poleward of 50 latitude, have been increasing with time, becoming brighter and moving toward the equator.
Translating the mission: when the ground-truthers meet the instrument-makers-how students at all points in the "Pipeline" learn about remote sensing
In 1997 the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) worked with Old Dominion University, Hampton University, Tidewater Community College and the College of William and Mary to develop a student team to manage the design, fabrication, and launch process for a scientific balloon payload. The expertise available to the VSGC suggested that an environmentally focused payload should address the instrumentation for gathering remotely sensed images and ground-truthing data. The payload was successfully launched on August 25, 1998. Throughout the project all team members worked with precollege students. Questions about the project were responded to through the "Ask A Scientist" page of the web site (http://ixeab2.larc.nasa.gov//sup -/killough/vsgc). The "Lessons Learned" included: 1) Student accountability for accuracy, safety, and project costs is critical, 2) Internet research projects require a high degree of organization, software compatibility, and self-efficacy: judgement that the student himself feels capable of participating in an on-line research project, and 3) The moment of "Aha!" is the primary motivator.
Atmospheric drag effects on the KOMPSAT-1 satellite during geomagnetic superstorms
We examine the atmospheric drag on the low earth-orbiting satellite, KOMPSAT-1 in a sun-synchronous orbit at ~685-km altitude starting in 1999, during a 3-month (October-December) period in 2003. This 3-month interval includes the October 29-30 and November 20 magnetic superstorms and weak to moderate storms. We observed that the daily KOMPSAT-1 drag acceleration transiently responses to transient storm-time disturbances. That is, there is an one-to-one correspondence between the KOMPSAT-1 drag accelerations and the storm events. We find that the drag acceleration correlates strongly with the level of geomagnetic disturbance. This indicates that the trajectory of KOMPSAT-1 is significantly perturbed during extremely disturbed intervals because of atmospheric density increase. The main contributor to the density increase is Joule heating associated with the geomagnetic activity rather than the solar EUV radiation, as reported by previous studies. We suggest that understanding how the upper atmosphere responses to the geomagnetic-associated heating is important to predict space weather impacts on low earth-orbiting satellites.