Pierre Dominique Pautet | Utah State University - Estados Unidos

• Grant number: 07/00884-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: April 16, 2007
• End date: March 14, 2008
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geophysics
• Principal Investigator: Eliah Fernanda de Maria de São Sabbas Tavares
• Grantee: Eliah Fernanda de Maria de São Sabbas Tavares
• Visiting researcher: Pierre Dominique Pautet
• Visiting researcher institution: Utah State University (USU), United States
• Host Institution: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This proposal is to have Dr. Pierre-Dominique Pautet participating as a Visiting Scientist on the development of DEELUMINOS project, following FAPESP’s recommendation on the email of 09/27/06 attached. The main goal of the project is to establish in Brazil the new research area that studies the electrodynamical coupling of the atmospheric layers signaled by several Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) generated by lightning, among which Sprites are the most significant. Satellite observations all over the Earth have shown that these are global phenomena with unknown implications in the total energetic budget of the planet. Due to the fact that Brazil is located in the region with the second largest lightning activity rate of the world, South America, the local implementation of this new research area is strategic not just to Brazil itself but also to the world development of the field. Dr. Pautet has a broad experience in observation of sprites/TLEs, airglow, noctilucent clouds and other similar phenomena. He participated of all sprite/TLE campaigns in Brazil and was in charge of all Utah State University’s, USU, USA, equipment. An expert in image processing, he dominates several techniques to analyze this type of data and have an impressive knowledge about the equipment used in these researches. During the last campaign in Brazil, Dr. Pautet expressed interest in joining the DEELUMINOS project. The contribution of another Ph.D. with such expertise will be a milestone to the good development of the project. The visiting scientist will work on the following objectives of the project: (1) development of the necessary infrastructure by acquiring the necessary equipment and computational resources; (2) performing TLE observations in several locations of the country; (3) analysis and interpretation of the data; and study of the relationship between sprites and other phenomena in the middle and upper atmosphere. Dr. Pautet is particularly interested on the influence of gravity waves, and their propagation in the upper atmosphere, on sprite generation, following the model of São Sabbas [2003], and on ionospheric irregularities seeding, one of the main scientific topic of the project. (AU)