Main Science Results from Chinese Meridian Project(2014—2015)

The Chinese Meridian Space Weather Monitoring Project (Meridian Project for short) is a ground-based geospace monitoring chain in China. It consists of a chain of 15 ground-based observatories located roughly along 120°E longitude and 30°N latitude. Each observatory is equipped with multiple instruments to measure key parameters such as the baseline and time-varying geomagnetic field, the middle and upper atmosphere and ionosphere from about 20 to 1000km. This project started collecting data in 2012. Here a brief overview of the Chinese Meridian Project is given, and most recent science results mainly in the ionospheric and atmospheric studies are presented.      

Recent Advances in Observation and Research of the Chinese Meridian Project

The Chinese Meridian Space Weather Monitoring Project (Meridian Project) is a ground-based geospace monitoring chain in China. It consists of 15 ground-based observation stations located roughly along 120°E longitude and 30°N latitude. In recent two years, using data from the Meridian Project, significant progress has been made in space weather and space physics research. These advances are mainly in four aspects:regional characteristics of space environment above China or along 120°E meridian line, coupling between space spheres at different heights and different physical processes, space weather disturbance and its propagation along the meridian chain, and space weather effects on ground technical facilities.      

Development of the Chinese Meridian Project

The Meridian Project is a ground-based network program to monitor Solar-Terrestrial space environment, which consists of a chain of ground-based observatories with multiple instruments including magnetometers, ionosondes, HF and VHF radars, Lidars, IPS monitors, sounding rockets etc. The chain is mainly located in the neighborhood of 120$^\circ$E meridian, and is thus named the Meridian Project. The Meridian Project has officially been approved and supported by the Chinese government and will be finished by the end of 2010. This report gives an overview of the Meridian Project, and reports the recent development since 2008.      

Introduction to Meridian Space Weather Monitoring Project

The Meridian Project is a ground- based network program to monitor solar-terrestrial space environment, which consists of a chain of ground-based observatories with multiple instruments including magnetometers, ionosondes, HF and VHF radar, Lidar, IPS monitors, sounding rockets etc. The chain is mainly located in the neighborhood of 120°E meridian, and is thus named the Meridian Project. It has officially been approved by the Chinese government and will be finished by 2009. This talk will give an overview of the Meridian Project and the proposed International Space Weather Meridian Circle Program.     

Recent Development and Preliminary Results of Chinese Meridian Project

The Meridian Project is a ground-based network program to monitor solar-terrestrial space environment, which consists of a chain of 15 ground-based observatories located roughly along 120°E longitude and 30°N latitude. The Meridian project started in 2008, and its construction was completed by 2011. The integration and test phase of the Meridian Project conducted in 2011 demonstrated its observation capabilities as expected. The project will be in full operation in 2012. This report gives an overview of the recent development and preliminary results of the Meridian Project since 2010.      

International Meridian Circle Program

The Earth is buffered from the ferocious onslaught of the solar wind by a thin layer of matter known as the atmosphere and geospace. This layer absorbs energy from irradiance and outburst from the Sun, as well as from disasters, transient phenomena and anthropogenic emissions originated from Earth. Through complicated physics, the absorbed energy changes the atmospheric and geospace state and sometimes gets re-released to power extreme events such as space weather. Taking place globally, these complicated processes cannot be understood unless they are studied globally. The Chinese scientists have proposed the International Meridian Circle Program (IMCP) to meet this demand. By operating nearly 1000 instruments encompassing all latitudes along with the 120°E-60°W longitudes, IMCP aims, for the first time, to construct comprehensive 3D data representation of the atmosphere and geospace on a global scale and empower interdisciplinary research to tackle key questions related to Earth's environment and climate change.      

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO MERIDIAN PROJECT

Early in 1994, sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and then the State Science and Technology Commission of China (SSTC, now Ministry of Sci ence and Technology), Chinese space scientists (including scientists from Taiwan) gathered together to discuss issues on the development of space physics researches in China. Following it, several special seminars were held to continue the discus sion which finally led to a proposal to CAS and SSTC for establishing a station chain along the 120°E to monitor the space environment. This proposal was care fully reviewed and thoroughly evaluated by many leading scientists in the com munity and then listed in the State Plan of Chinese Central Government in June 1997. The project then has been formally called as "Meridian Chain of Compre hensive Ground-Based Space Environment Monitors in the Eastern Hemisphere" "Meridian Project". After several years of preparations the project has been par tially initiated with the efforts devoted by institutes and universities involved.     

西藏阿里地区的晴天大气电场特征

晴天大气电场是一个区域大气电场变化的基准场,是大气电场特性的研究基础。对于具有不同地质条件、地理环境和地形特点的区域,晴天大气电场特征具有明显区别。利用在西藏阿里地震台（80.12°E,32.51°N）安装的一台场磨式大气电场仪于2021年10月10日至2021年11月10日观测到的数据,通过对大气电场数据建模与分析,结合气象条件,得到西藏阿里地区23天晴天条件下的平均卡耐基曲线。经过平滑处理去除仪器噪声的波动,得到西藏阿里地区的晴天条件下的标准卡耐基曲线,进而与北京市昌平区十三陵观测台站（116.23°E,40.25°N）同期的晴天大气电场特征进行对比,并对其电场特性差异和原因进行了讨论。研究结果对分析高原地区晴天大气电场特征具有重要的参考价值和科学意义。      

Recent Advances in Research of the Chinese Meridian Project

The Chinese Meridian Project is a ground-based space environment monitoring facility in China. The first phase of the project has been put into formal operation since 2012 after 4-year's construction. It consists of 15 observatories located roughly along 120°E longitude and 30°N latitude, with each observatory equipped with multiple instruments to monitor space environment. Based on the huge observational data accumulated, significant scientific achievements have been made with more than 300 peer-reviewed journal papers published. In this report, scientific results from the past two years have been reviewed with topics covering fields of geomagnetic, atmosphere, ionosphere, and their responses to solar activities. The excellent achievements from the Phase I of Chinese Meridian Project lay a good foundation for Phase II, which has already been approved with the official kick-off of construction in November 2019. It will conceive an unprecedented contribution to global space weather community from China.      

GPS在气象火箭遥测跟踪上的应用

利用GPS全球定位系统、天线云台和宽波瓣天线组成的跟踪系统, 研究了接收位置信息与跟踪之间的时间差, 气象火箭理论弹道误差导致的中断跟踪,气象火箭探空仪分离后至初次定位前的跟踪, 天线云台转到359°位置后反转359°及跟踪过程中跟踪中断后的继续跟踪等关键问题,成功实现了气象火箭探空仪的遥测跟踪. 该跟踪系统在子午工程气象火箭试验中得到较好的应用, 此种跟踪方式相比传统雷达跟踪方式具有体积小、重量轻、操作简单、成本低、机动性强、跟踪可靠性强等诸多优点.      

子午工程首次火箭探空数据准单色惯性重力波特性分析

利用2010年6月3日子午工程首次气象火箭探测的温度和风场数据,采用矢端曲线法分别从平流层（20~50km）和对流层（0~15km）廓线提取了海南火箭发射场上空准单色惯性重力波参数.火箭探测的平流层和对流层两个准单色惯性重力波分别向上和向下逆风传播,固有周期为20.1h和22.4h,垂直波长为9.5km和4.0km,水平波长为2900km和753km,垂直群速度c_gz为0.0887m·-1和0.0298m·-1,水平群速度c_gh为12.7m·-1和3.65m·-1,λ_h/λ_z为305:1和188:1,c_gh/c_gz为143:1和122:1.      

A Brief Introduction and Recent Progress of the Geospace Double Star Program

The Geospace Double Star Project (DSP) consists of two small satellites operating in the near-earth equatorial and polar regions, respectively. The goals of DSP are: (1) to provide high-resolution field, particle, and wave measurements in some important near-earth active regions which have not been covered by current ISTP missions, such as the near-earth plasma sheet and its boundary layer, the ring current, the radiation belts, the dayside magnetopause boundary layer, and the polar region; (2) to investigate the trigger mechanisms of magnetic storms, magnetospheric substorms, and magnetospheric particle events,as well as the responses of geospace storms to solar activities and interplanetary disturbances; (3) to set up the models describing the spatial and temporal variations of the near-earth space environment.To realize the above goals, the equatorial satellite TC-1 and the polar satellite TC-2 will accommodate, respectively, eight instruments on board. TC-1was launched successfully in December 2003 while the polar satellite (TC-2)will be launched in July 2004. The orbit of the equatorial satellite TC-1 consists of a perigee at 550 km, an apogee at 60 000 km, and an inclination of about 28.5; while the orbit of the polar satellite will have a perigee of 700 km, an apogee of 40 000 km, and an inclination of about 90. The two satellites will take coordinated measurements with Cluster Ⅱ and will first form a "six-point exploration" in geospace.The operational status of TC-1 are introduced in this paper.     

中低纬度Pc3-4地磁脉动特性研究——子午工程数据分析初步结果

利用新建成的子午工程地磁台站数据,对比分析了地磁平静期间(2011年3月20-27日)和磁暴期间(2011年9月25日至10月1日)Pc3-4地磁脉动的时空分布特征及其对行星际条件的响应.数据分析结果表明,中低纬度(1.3<L<2.3,L为磁壳参数)的Pc3-4地磁脉动在这两个时期内的分布存在明显的晨昏不对称性,在昼侧前出现明显的Pc3-4地磁脉动并与行星际上游波动密切相关,其振幅增强可能与太阳风动压脉冲相关,高速太阳风更易导致Pc3-4地磁脉动;而对于近赤道低纬(L<1.3)区域,无论是在地磁平静期还是磁暴期均未能观测到Pc3-4地磁脉动,Pc3-4地磁脉动存在明显的纬度效应.      

Introduction to Chinese Meridian Project-Phase II

The Chinese Meridian Project is a ground-based space environment monitoring network, which is constructed in two steps. The first step (Phase I) of the project consists of 15 observation stations located roughly along 120°E longitude and 30°N latitude. The second step (Phase II) of the project will additionally deploy 16 stations to better cover China's territory, and build a stereo monitoring capability to monitor the cause and effect of the space weather chain in the solar terrestrial system. Based on the existing two monitoring chains in Phase I, two more chains will be established along 100°E longitude and 40°N latitude, respectively, forming a double-cross network configuration. After the two-step construction, the whole project will run nearly 300 instruments deployed at 31 stations. Aside from standard instruments, quite a few innovative and powerful instruments will be developed, such as radioheliographs with a very wide frequency band, a 3-station incoherent scattering radar to make a 3D measurement of the ionosphere, and a helium lidar to measure atmosphere density up to an altitude of 1000 km.      

冷锋期间武汉MST雷达低平流层回波异常现象

武汉MST雷达是中国子午工程建设的两台中高层大气无线电探测雷达之一.该雷达探测频率在VHF频段，雷达回波在低平流层和对流层上部具有角谱特性，可为研究大气动态稳定性提供有效技术手段.本文利用武汉MST雷达2016年4月17日冷锋活动期间及平静天气的角谱实验数据，从雷达回波特性变化、风场空间分布、湍流生成机制以及内重力波影响四个方面分析并解释了MST雷达对流层顶上部区域出现持续异常强回波带的成因.分析结果表明，对流层冷锋的强对流作用诱发内重力波，内重力波向上传播至低平流层后受增强的剪切急流影响发生耗散甚至破碎，激励了长时间跨度的K-H不稳定性，进而导致水平反射层结构发生扰动生成湍流，使得雷达回波结构发生变化.      

北驼峰区电离层GPS卫星闪烁事件时空特征及对通信的影响

基于子午工程北大深圳站（22.59°N,113.97°E）电离层GPS双频接收机在2011年1月1日至2017年12月31日连续7年的长时间序列闪烁和TEC观测数据,分析不同太阳活条件下华南赤道异常北驼峰区观测到的GPS卫星L波段电离层闪烁事件时空分布特征及其对通信的影响.结果表明:GPS闪烁事件几乎都发生在夜间,且主要发生在春秋分月份;在不同太阳活动条件下,夜间GPS闪烁事件都主要发生在北驼峰区域靠近磁赤道的一侧,且GPS闪烁事件存在明显的东-西侧天区不对称性,即在台站西侧天区发生的闪烁事件明显偏多;在不同太阳活动条件下,弱闪烁事件伴随的TEC耗尽和卫星失锁事件比例相对较低,强闪烁事件则大部分都伴随着TEC耗尽和卫星失锁事件的发生.      

太阳风——磁层相互作用的磁流体力学数值模拟研究

磁层位于地球空间的最外层, 太阳风与磁层的相互作用是空间天气变化因果链中承上启下的关键环节, 是揭示地球空间天气基本规律的关键科学课题. 地球空间由于时变、多成分、多自由度的关联相互作用,使得传统的理论分析变得非常困难. 数值模拟作为近几十年发展起来的一个新的研究手段,对地球空间的理论和应用研究产生了深刻的影响. 国际上磁层的全球MHD数值模拟工作开始于20世纪70年代末, 最初的研究局限于二维空间. 由于磁层内在的三维特性, 20世纪80年代三维MHD数值模拟工作兴起. 本文简要说明了三维全球磁层MHD (磁流体力学)研究的特点及现状, 给出了三维全球磁层模型的基本框架, 综述了行星际激波与磁层相互作用、大尺度电流体系、重联电压和越极电位、磁层顶K-H不稳定性等方面的太阳风--磁层相互作用的MHD数值模拟的研究进展.      

基于多仪器观测的中国中纬区域MSTID长距离传播事件研究

电离层等离子体不规则结构通常会影响星地卫星的通信、导航及定位等,因此研究不规则体的结构特征和演化过程具有非常重要的科学意义和应用价值。中尺度电离层行进式扰动（MSTID）是一种常发于F层的电离层扰动,其演化过程十分复杂。本文利用伊春和兴隆台站全天空气辉成像仪、Swarm卫星、佳木斯高频雷达以及漠河和十三陵台站数字测高仪观测数据,对2018年10月17日夜间出现在中国东北区域上空的MSTID事件进行分析。该MSTID事件传播时间较长,在气辉观测中持续时间超过4 h（12:02－16:23 UT）,其波长范围为176.3～322.5 km,波速范围为67.0～154.1 m·s–1。研究结果显示,该MSTID可能产生于较高的纬度,自东北向西南往中纬传播,依次经过伊春和兴隆台站的气辉观测区域。      

A study of GPS ionospheric scintillations observed at Shenzhen

Ionospheric scintillation variations are studied using GPS measurements at the low latitude station of Shenzhen (22.59°N, 113.97°E), situated under the northern crest of the equatorial anomaly region, from the Chinese Meridian Project. The results are presented for data collected during the current phase of rising solar activity (low to high solar activity) from December 2010 to April 2014. The results show that GPS scintillation events were largely a nighttime phenomenon during the whole observation period. Scintillation events mainly occurred along the inner edge of the northern crest of the equatorial anomaly in China. The occurrence of scintillations in different sectors of the sky was also investigated, and the results revealed that it is more likely for the scintillations to be observed in the west sector of the sky above Shenzhen. During the present period of study, a total number of 512 total electron content (TEC) depletions and 460 lock loss events were observed. In addition, both of these events are likely to increase during periods of high solar activity, especially because the strong scintillations are often simultaneously accompanied by TEC depletions and lock losses by GPS receivers.     

子午工程探空火箭伸杆展开机构技术研究

根据子午工程探空火箭电子和电场探测需求,设计了套筒式伸杆展开机构.通过电子伸杆和电场伸杆的结构方案设计、力学仿真分析,伸杆单项力学试验,伸杆与整箭的匹配力学试验以及伸杆飞行试验验证得出,该伸杆技术方案合理可行,伸杆总体构型、布局设计及结构方案设计满足科学探测各项技术指标的要求.