These awards were made on the basis of proposals submitted in response to NASA Research Announcement NRA-95-OSS-11. Proposals describing 74 investigations were reviewed in the competition for Fiscal Year (FY) 1996 funding from the ITM SR&T program. Twenty of these were rated Excellent or Excellent/Very Good in a peer review of their scientific merit, 26 were rated Very Good or Very Good/Good, and 28 were rated Good or less.
The assignment of ratings was based on requirements set out in the NRA and followed carefully the NASA definitions of Excellent, Very Good, Good, and Poor which were provided to proposers. Specifically, in order for a proposal to be have been rated Very Good or Excellent it had to have (1) presented a clear scientific question to be answered, (2) outlined an appropriate and feasible method of approaching this question and (3) provided confidence that if the proposed effort were carried out, then definitive progress in understanding the phenomenon in question would likely result. A proposal was classified as Excellent if and only if, having met these necessary but not sufficient conditions, it also targeted a compelling question whose timely solution was important to advancement of the field.
All 36 of the E, E/VG, and VG proposals were considered to be within the competitive range for this selection. The total FY 1996 funding requested by the proposals in the competitive range was $2.7 M. If the ITM SR&T program is funded at anticipated levels, approximately $1.4 M would be available for the funding of new programs. In this case, the final selection would include all of the E and E/VG proposals with the exception of one proposal which would have duplicated work already being supported elsewhere. In addition, the two VG proposals with the highest programmatic priority would also be funded. Thus, twenty-one proposals in all were recommended for selection. All but five of the selected proposals would be funded at requested levels and all would be funded for the time periods recommended by the review panel.
The next opportunity to propose for ITM SR&T funding will be in response to the 1996 ITM NRA, which will be released this coming spring.
A list of the selected proposals follows:
Proposals Submitted in response to NRA-95-OSS-11
New Efforts Selected for Funding
Borovsky/Los Alamos: Coordinated observations of the aurora and the auroral magnetosphere
Croskey/Penn State: Development of naonotechnology sensors for space applications: An instrumented falling sphere for the measurement of density, temperature, and winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Eccles/SEC: The electrodynamics of the E and F region dynamos in the transition altitudes of the equatorial ionosphere
Gary/APL: Low latitude current systems determined from satellite magnetic field observations
Huo/Ames: Production of atomic nitrogen in the thermosphere by electron - N2 collisions
Inan/Stanford: Heating, ionization and red sprites produced in the lower thermosphere by quasi electrostatic thundercloud fields
LaBelle/Dartmouth: Investigation of equatorial spread-F rocket data
Lieberman/Michigan: Global observation of planetary-scale waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere from the High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI) and the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII)
Lynch/New Hampshire: Wave acceleration of auroral ions: AMICIST data set
Mayr/GSFC: Modeling of waves, tides, and equatorial oscillations in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Mendillo/BU: Use of NASA's Global Positioning System (GPS) Monitoring Network for studies of ionospheric structure and variability
Menietti/Iowa: Comprehensive investigation of 2 fp radio emissions observed by DE 1 in the dayside and nightside auroral regions
Pfaff/Goddard: Analysis of electric field, current density, and plasma instability data gathered in the equatorial electrojet during the NASA/Brazil rocket campaign, 1994, and electric field data gathered during the Atmospheric Response in Auroras (ARIA) experiment 1995
Richards/Alabama: Quantification of neutral wind variability in the upper thermosphere
Robertson/Colorado: Charged particulates in the polar mesosphere/Instrument development
Roussel-Dupre/Los Alamos: High altitude discharges and gamma-ray flashes as a manifestation of runaway air breakdown
Slanger/SRI: Atmospherically-related studies of O(1D) and O2(b1 1S+g)
Walterscheid/Aerospace: Gravity wave mean-state interactions in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Winckler/Minnesota: Studies in magnetospheric, ionospheric and mesospheric plasma physics
Winglee/Washington: Magnetosheath/ionospheric coupling in the cusp/cleft region
Yee/APL: Global atomic oxygen distribution in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (80-105 km)
Supporting Research and Technology Program in Ionospheric, Thermospheric, and Mesospheric Physics
Fiscal Year 1996
Ajello/JPL: High resolution, temperature dependent photoabsorption cross section measurements of O2 and N2 important to the Earth's atmosphere
Borovsky/Los Alamos: Coordinated observations of the aurora and the auroral magnetosphere
Coley/UTD: Adaptive identification and characterization of polar ionization patches
Copeland/SRI: Collisional processes important in the O2 ultraviolet airglow
Craven/Alaska: Model auroral electron precipitation patterns for coupled thermosphere-ionosphere simulations
Croskey/Penn State: Development of naonotechnology sensors for space applications: An instrumented falling sphere for the measurement of density, temperature, and winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Crowley/APL: A new framework for the study of high latitude lower-thermospheric structure caused by thermosphere-ionosphere coupling
Dyer/SRI: Laboratory studies of mesospheric OH collisional energy transfer
Eccles/SEC: The electrodynamics of the E and F region dynamos in the transition altitudes of the equatorial ionosphere
Erlandson/APL: Correlative studies of ionospheric electron temperatures at high latitudes: Field-aligned currents and low frequency waves
Fejer/Utah: Satellite studies of storm time mid- and low-latitude ionospheric electrodynamics
Forbes/Colorado: Natural oscillations of the thermosphere-ionosphere system
Ganguli, S/SAIC: Coupling between field-aligned transport and convection in the auroral and polar cap ionosphere
Gary/APL: Low latitude current systems determined from satellite magnetic field observations
Gilchrist/Michigan: Development of the space tethered instrument concept for ITM science
Goldberg/GSFC: Mesospheric response to impacting relativistic electrons
Goldman/Colorado: Nonlinear wave and particle heating in the auroral ionosphere
Heelis/UTD: The spatial distribution of plasma and field structures at high latitudes
Herrero/GSFC: The vertical neutral wind in the lower-latitude thermosphere
Hickey/UAH: Wave driven exothermic heating in the menopause region
Hoffman/GSFC: Magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling in the electrodynamics of substorms
Huo/Ames: Production of atomic nitrogen in the thermosphere by electron - N2 collisions
Hysell/Clemson: Analysis of equatorial ionospheric turbulence using DE and San Marco data
Inan/Stanford: Heating, ionization and red sprites produced in the lower thermosphere by quasi electrostatic thundercloud fields
Killeen/Michigan: Continued data analysis and theoretical studies of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Kletzing/New Hampshire: Kinetic Alfven wave electron acceleration on auroral field lines
Kozyra/Michigan: Studies of inner magnetospheric processes and their coupling to the underlying ionosphere and atmosphere
LaBelle/Dartmouth: Investigation of equatorial spread-F rocket data
Lieberman/Michigan: Global observation of planetary-scale waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere from the High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI) and the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII)
Lin/Berkeley: Kinetic analysis of the correlation between electromagnetic waves and realistic electron fluxes on auroral field lines
Lotko/Dartmouth: Oblique Alfven dynamics of the plasma sheet-ionosphere interaction
Lynch/New Hampshire: Wave acceleration of auroral ions: AMICIST data set
Lysak/Minnesota: A three-dimensional, time-dependent model of the interaction of Alfven waves with the ionosphere
Mayr/GSFC: Modeling of waves, tides, and equatorial oscillations in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Mendillo/BU: Use of NASA's Global Positioning System (GPS) Monitoring Network for studies of ionospheric structure and variability
Menietti/Iowa: Comprehensive investigation of 2 fp radio emissions observed by DE 1 in the dayside and nightside auroral regions
Newell/APL: Pressure profiles of the magnetosphere as reflected in ionospheric observations
Otani/Iowa: Simulations of the Farley-Buneman instability in the E-region ionosphere
Parish/UCLA: Simulations of the effects of planetary wave oscillations on the thermosphere and ionosphere using a Coupled Thermosphere Ionosphere Model (CTIM)
Parks/Washington: An investigation of the source of microburst electron precipitation by comparison of data to wave-particle interactions mechanisms
Pfaff/Goddard: Analysis of electric field, current density, and plasma instability data gathered in the equatorial electrojet during the NASA/Brazil rocket campaign, 1994, and electric field data gathered during the Atmospheric Response in Auroras (ARIA) experiment 1995
Picone/NRL: Empirical modeling of the neutral atmosphere
Reiff/Rice: Electron loss rates in the inner magnetosphere
Retterer/Phillips Lab: Spikelets and lower hybrid collapse
Richards/Alabama: Quantification of neutral wind variability in the upper thermosphere
Richmond/NCAR: Analysis of large-scale magnetosphere-ionosphere electrodynamics coupling
Robertson/Colorado: Charged particulates in the polar mesosphere/Instrument development
Roble/NCAR: Global solar-terrestrial electrostatic coupling study
Roussel-Dupre/Los Alamos: High altitude discharges and gamma-ray flashes as a manifestation of runaway air breakdown
Rowland/NRL: Ionospheric heating and acceleration by lightning bursts
Sentman/Alaska: Analysis of video and ELF/VLF data obtained during the Sprites94 campaign
Seyler/Cornell: Theory and simulation of lower hybrid waves and associated ion acceleration in the auroral region
Singh/Alabama: Three-dimensional numerical simulation of nonlinear lower hybrid wave propagation
Slanger/SRI: Atmospherically-related studies of O(1D) and O2(b1 1S+g)
Smith, K/Rice: Measurement of electron impact cross sections of importance in planetary atmospheres
Strickland/CPI: Thermospheric O/N2 based on DE-1 imaging results
Thayer/SRI: Modeling of the coupled magnetospheric and neutral wind dynamics
Walterscheid/Aerospace: Gravity wave mean-state interactions in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Winckler/Minnesota: Studies in magnetospheric, ionospheric and mesospheric plasma physics
Winglee/Washington: Magnetosheath/ionospheric coupling in the cusp/cleft region
Yee/APL: Global atomic oxygen distribution in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (80-105 km)
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Last modified: 1997 June 26