The Antarctic Geospace and ATmosphere reseArch (AGATA) Scientific Research Programme (SRP) aims to contribute to answering the outstanding scientific questions within atmospheric and space physics in the Antarctic, namely:
- How are different atmospheric layers coupled in the Antarctic?
- How does the Antarctic upper polar atmosphere respond to increased geomagnetic activity, including energy transfer from space?
- How does the whole polar atmosphere impact short- and long-term climate variations?
Answering these open questions will not only have implications for the understanding of processes in the Antarctic atmosphere, but it will also greatly improve our understanding of the atmospheric dynamics in the polar regions and globally, thus contributing to the development of large-scale whole atmosphere and climate models.
The AGATA SRP is taking actions according to scientific and technological themes that focus on revealing the role of physical processes in the Antarctic atmosphere in:
- coupling between different atmospheric layers (i.e., different “spheres”, such as troposphere, stratosphere, ionosphere);
- coupling between the neutral and ionized atmospheric components within the respective atmospheric layers;
- coupling between the atmosphere and the geospace and processes in the magnetosphere
Figure 1: Visualisation of the objectives of AGATA SRP.
Thus, both vertical coupling and internal coupling between and within atmospheric layers are considered, together with the understanding of the impact of space weather and space climate conditions on shaping the Antarctic atmosphere-system. To understand the global context, the AGATA SRP is set in the interhemispheric perspective, considering also the Arctic atmosphere to understand the differences and similarities between the polar regions and their role for the global atmospheric processes. The objectives of AGATA SRP are visually presented in Figure 1.
AGATA work is organized in Working Groups and Task Groups, see Figure 2. To learn more about the Working Groups and Task Groups, and learn about AGATA leadership, see the Members section.
Figure 2: Structure and workflow within AGATA SRP.
Figure 2: Structure and workflow within AGATA SRP
