2025 Workshop: Heterogeneous data sets for auroral science

This workshop focuses on ionospheric responses in the auroral zone contributing to system-science characterizations of the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere-atmosphere (MITA). The heterogeneous nature of this response requires the use of a variety of observations from diverse platforms. Recent and ongoing development of new tools for incorporating data from distributed multi-instrument, multi-platform heterogeneous sources is facilitating improved understanding of auroral dynamics, new science from combining observations in novel ways, and the inclusion of these derived datasets into state-of-the art models and data assimilation techniques. The goal of leveraging existing databases to investigate the relationships between ionospheric flows, field-aligned currents, and conductivity patterns have presented challenges, particularly the task to explore the impacts of ionosphere-atmosphere coupling in greater detail. Physics-based and data-driven ionospheric modeling using data reconstructions of ionospheric energy inputs from multiple, distributed, and heterogeneous measurements, including simultaneous use of in situ and remote sensing techniques, has been used for system science related to non-ideal arcs and the dynamics that govern them as well as MIT coupling dynamics both across spatial and temporal scales and altitude regimes.
The workshop will be broadly organized by the following topics:
Heterogeneous data products and multi-instrument observations – What new data products and multi-instrument observation modalities are available? What new techniques are being developed and utilized to combine disparate data sets?
Scientific output from heterogeneous data – What new science results have come from considering multiple or combined datasets, including those involving atmospheric chemistry.
Data infrastructure for heterogeneous data – What currently exists and what are the needs so these data products can be efficiently created, distributed, and attributed to maximize scientific output and collaboration? What are the lessons-learned from the groups working with large-scale ground based distributed arrays? How can we address the disconnects between auroral/ionospheric models and data sets, with atmospheric and magnetospheric ones?
This workshop aims to gather interested members of the community together to share recent research and discuss results and future developments in a collaborative setting. It will be structured as a series of short (3-5 minute) presentations within a shared slide deck that highlight recent research with significant time at the end for moderated group discussion. Anyone interested in showing a few slides should contact the conveners so topics can be grouped and organized in advance, but all are welcome to participate in the open discussion.