The LWS Geospace Storm Investigations Exploring the Extremes of Space Weather

摘要

The Geospace mission of the Living With a Star program is a family of investigations focusing on the compelling science questions that advance our ability to specify, understand, and predict the societal impact of solar variance. Two key areas have been identified as combining both importance to society and potential for scientific progress: 1) characterization and understanding of the acceleration, global distribution, and variability of energetic electrons and ions in the inner magnetosphere, and 2) characterization and understanding of the ionosphere and irregularities that affect communications, navigation and radar systems. Under these broad categories specific science questions have emerged as the priority science objectives for the first Geospace Investigations: How and why do relativistic electrons in the outer zone and slot region vary during geomagnetic storms How does the long- and short-term variability of the Sun affect the global-scale behavior of the ionospheric electron density and irregularities, especially during magnetic storms and at mid-latitudes The first Geospace mission will attempt to answer these questions.