Speaker
Description
Much of what we know about large-scale variations in the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere system comes from statistical analyses of average patterns and responses via observational data sets built up over long periods of time. With the advent in the past 10–20 years of large observational networks and consortia such as SuperDARN, SuperMAG, and the Iridium satellites, we are entering a new observational era in which it is possible to produce nearly instantaneous maps of some ionospheric parameters over large areas. In this presentation I outline a new assimilative approach for moving beyond the typical statistical analysis of steady-state averages by using these next-generation datasets to model regional ionospheric electrodynamics. I also present some preliminary validation results based on comparison with output from the GAMERA global geospace model.
