Project Grant 2230365

This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation, under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), provides $289,807 to The Regents of the University of California from September 1, 2022 through August 31, 2025. The funding supports analysis of new data from NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer spacecraft to understand the drivers of variability in the pre-reversal enhancement phenomenon in Earth's ionosphere. Specifically, the grant will validate plasma drift and pre-reversal enhancement estimates from ICON against measurements from the Jicamarca Radio Observatory. It will also study longitudinal and day-to-day patterns in pre-reversal enhancement strength relative to neutral wind observations, with and without an electrodynamic solver model. The research aims to elucidate the mechanisms controlling pre-reversal enhancement variability and its implications for predicting equatorial spread F conditions. In addition to advancing scientific knowledge, the project includes undergraduate student mentoring to benefit geoscience workforce development.