The MP SAP-c v3 was designed to estimate the volume of menstrual bleeding through self-report, using pictograms of sanitary pads and tampons. This study evaluated whether the MP SAP-c v3 was easy for women with UF to understand and complete, and to understand their preferred method of estimating heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB), using either the MP SAP-c v3 or the alkaline hematin (AH) method that requires the collection of sanitary products for laboratory testing. A total of 30 women of varying ethnicities and educational levels, with clinically confirmed UF, in Germany (n=15) and the USA (n=15), participated in one-on-one, face-to-face CIs (July to September 2017) after completing the MP SAP-c v3, which was presented as printouts of electronic screens. CIs were audio recorded and transcribed. Content analysis of the transcripts was facilitated with MAXQDA qualitative analysis software. More than 80% of women correctly interpreted the MP SAP-c v3 screens and response options. More than 90% of women found the MP SAP-c v3 screens easy to understand and answer. However, 27.3% did not properly understand the word “underside” in the pad pictogram, despite it being emphasized in bold and underlined, and 36.4% did not consider the correct side of the pad when answering. This suggests that the “underside” instruction should be carefully explained. No changes were made to the MP SAP-c v3 instrument. The majority (90.0%) of women preferred the MP SAP-c v3 over the AH method for measuring HMB, with 76.7% considering the AH method to be “unhygienic” or “disgusting” and 36.7% considering the MP SAP-c v3 to be “easier”. Two participants who preferred the AH method perceived it to be more accurate. Overall, findings from the CIs support the content validity of the MP SAP-c v3 for use by women with UF to measure HMB.

This paper reviews recent progress toward understanding the dynamics of the middle atmosphere in the framework of the Atmospheric Dynamics Research InfraStructure in Europe (ARISE) initiative. The middle atmosphere, integrating the stratosphere and mesosphere, is a crucial region which influences tropospheric weather and climate. Enhancing the understanding of middle atmosphere dynamics requires improved measurement of the propagation and breaking of planetary and gravity waves originating in the lowest levels of the atmosphere. Inter-comparison studies have shown large discrepancies between observations and models, especially during unresolved disturbances such as sudden stratospheric warmings for which model accuracy is poorer due to a lack of observational constraints. Correctly predicting the variability of the middle atmosphere can lead to improvements in tropospheric weather forecasts on timescales of weeks to season. The ARISE project integrates different station networks providing observations from ground to the lower thermosphere, including the infrasound system developed for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty verification, the Lidar Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change, complementary meteor radars, wind radiometers, ionospheric sounders and satellites. This paper presents several examples which show how multi-instrument observations can provide a better description of the vertical dynamics structure of the middle atmosphere, especially during large disturbances such as gravity waves activity and stratospheric warming events. The paper then demonstrates the interest of ARISE data in data assimilation for weather forecasting and re-analyzes the determination of dynamics evolution with climate change and the monitoring of atmospheric extreme events which have an atmospheric signature, such as thunderstorms or volcanic eruptions.

We describe the seismoacoustic monitoring network in Fennoscandia and North West Russia and present how it is being used to characterize infrasound studies in that part of the world. The history of the infrasound array network is presented, together with a description of array processing considerations, and examples of infrasound signals recorded from repeating explosions.

The International Monitoring System (IMS) for verifying compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear‐Test‐Ban Treaty (CTBT) comprises sensors associated with four monitoring technologies: seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic, and radionuclide. The so‐called waveform technologies (seismic, infrasound, and hydroacoustic) are used to detect and locate events that could constitute treaty violations. All four technologies may be employed to investigate the nature of events, with the network of radionuclide sensors in place to provide evidence of a nuclear explosion. Historical, political, and technical issues surrounding the CTBT are discussed by Dahlman et al. (2009, 2011). The global IMS infrasound network (Fig. 1) is primarily to detect signals generated by atmospheric nuclear tests. Figure 1. Status of the International Monitoring System infrasound network in August 2014. Filled symbols are certified stations sending data to the International Data Center (IDC) in Vienna. White symbols indicate the treaty coordinates of stations planned or under construction. The IMS infrasound network has been deployed over the last two decades (Brachet et al. , 2010; Christie and Campus, 2010), and only with the network approaching completion has a realistic picture of its detection capability emerged (Le Pichon et al. , 2009; Green and Bowers, 2010). The detectability of atmospheric signals is governed by a seasonally varying wind‐determined anisotropy. In the northern summer, the stratospheric winds blow predominantly east to west, facilitating the detection of infrasound at stations west of sources and inhibiting the detection at stations east of sources. In the northern winter, the winds blow in the opposite direction changing the sense of high and low detectability. The reverse patterns occur in the southern hemisphere. There is increasing interest in using infrasound for probing atmospheric structure (e.g., Lalande et al. , 2012), and the broader properties and applications of infrasound are discussed by Evers and Haak (2009) and Hedlin et al. (2012). In October …

We present two cases of incoherent-scatter ion line enhancements in conjunction with auroral arcs drifting through the radar beam. The up- and downshifted ion line shoulders as well as the spectral region between them are enhanced equally and simultaneously. The power enhancements are one order of magnitude above the thermal level and are concentrated in less than 15km wide altitude ranges at the ionospheric F region peak. The auroral arc passages are preceded by significantly enhanced ion temperatures in the E region, assumed to be caused by transient electric fields associated with velocity shears. We use a Hall MHD model of velocity shears perpendicular to the geomagnetic field and show that a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability will grow for the two presented cases.

Numerous objects, man-made, such as rockets and satellites, and natural, in the form of meteoroids, continuously enter the Earth's atmosphere. Most of these events occur over unpopulated areas, during unfavourable meteorological conditions or in daylight, without being observed. However all these objects, when passing through the atmosphere, generate infrasound. That infrasound may be detected at long distances, even when optical observations are impossible. The present report shows that it is even possible, by studying the signature of the wave field on the ground, to identify different types of entry events. Detection of Meteoroch Space Object Entries 2 
 Table of contents Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3 Infrasound arrays in Northern Scandinavia ................................................................... 4 Infrasonic observations of distant sources ..................................................................... 5 Identification of infrasound sources – statistical properties of the wave field ............... 6 Neural network tool for source identification ............................................................... 10 Sounding rockets: launch and reentry ........................................................................... 11 Recognition of meteoroid entries .................................................................................. 13 Recognition of five specific types of event ................................................................... 14 Estimation of meteoroid orbits ...................................................................................... 16 Future development: a meta-array for space debris/meteoroid detection ..................... 19 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 20 References ..................................................................................................................... 21 Detection of Meteoroch Space Object Entries

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Instrument Description Critical Design Elements Test and Calibration Results Modular Concept

We present European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) observations of spectrally uniform ion line power enhancements (SUIPE), where the up- and downshifted shoulder and the spectral valley between them are enhanced simultaneously and equally. We have identified 48 cases of this type of ion line enhancement in data from the EISCAT Svalbard radar taken during the International Polar Year (extending from March 2007 to the end of February 2008). The SUIPEs are observed at altitudes between 210 km and 280 km with a standard deviation of 9% of the average occurrence height 230 km. The power enhancements are one order of magnitude above the thermal level. The SUIPEs occur at the ionospheric F region density peak with 85% of the cases located within 10 km of the peak. These characteristics are in good agreement with the predictions of a recently published model for soliton-induced ion-line enhancements at the F region peak. The SUIPE occurrence shows a clear preference for magnetically disturbed conditions, with the likelihood of occurrence increasing with increasing K index. A majority of the events occur in the magnetic evening to pre-midnight sector.

Spectra measured by incoherent scatter radars are formed predominantly by scattering of the incident signal off ion-acoustic and Langmuir waves in the ionosphere. Occasionally, the upshifted and/or downshifted lines produced by the ion-acoustic waves are enhanced well above thermal levels and referred to as naturally enhanced ion-acoustic lines. In this paper, we study another kind of enhancement, which is spectrally uniform over the whole ion-line, i.e. the up- and downshifted shoulder and the spectral valley in between. Based on observations made with the EISCAT Svalbard radar (ESR) facility, we investigate the transient and spectrally uniform power enhancements, which can be explained by ion-acoustic solitary waves. We use a theory of nonlinear waves in a magnetized plasma to determine the properties of such waves and evaluate their effects on scattered signals measured by ESR. We suggest a new mechanism that can explain backscattered power enhancements by one order of magnitude above the thermal level and show that it is consistent with observations.

The EISCAT Scientifi c Association, together with a number of collaborating institutions, has recently completed a feasibility and design study for an enhanced performance research radar facility to replace the existing EISCAT UHF and VHF systems. This study was supported by EU Sixth-Framework funding. The new radar retains the powerful multi-static geometry of the EISCAT UHF, but will employ phased arrays, direct-sampling receivers, and digital beamforming and beam steering. Design goals include, inter alia, a tenfold improvement in temporal and spatial resolution, an extension of the instantaneous measurement of full-vector ionospheric drift velocities from a single point to the entire altitude range of the radar, and an imaging capability to resolve small-scale structures. Prototype receivers and beamformers are currently being tested on a 48-element, 224 MHz array (the “Demonstrator”) erected at the Kiruna EISCAT site, using the EISCAT VHF transmitter as an illuminator.

Energy‐dispersed H+ structures observed by Equator‐S in the sub‐keV range in the dawn sector of the ring current region were used to perform the remote sensing of cold ions in the near‐earth plasma sheet. A time history of the source distribution function in the nightside plasma sheet was reconstructed by using the phase space mapping method under a time‐dependent convection electric field model. We obtained the following major conclusions: (1) A cold H+ component (∼10 eV) exists in the near‐earth plasma sheet. (2) The cold component is readily distinguished from the main component of the plasma sheet (>∼a few keV). (3) The cold component is distributed over a relatively wide area in MLT. (4) Energy‐dispersed H+ structures in the inner magnetosphere results from temporal variation of the cold component. Our scheme will be applicable for investigating long‐term plasma processes acting on the cold component whose behavior is largely unknown.

The PicUp3D code is a prototype of simulation software dedicated to quantitative and accurate modeling of spacecraft plasma interactions developed in the context of a European scientific and industrial network Spacecraft Plasma Interaction Network in Europe. It is based on a full three-dimensional kinetic particle-in-cell description of the electrons and the ion dynamics. The use of unstructured schemes in the spacecraft geometrical description has allowed to model successfully realistic geometries. The code is organized around an open and versatile object-oriented library and is fully written in JAVA. This paper presents the basic features and the first validation tests of PicUp3D, which are now made publicly and freely available on the Web. Developed in an open-source approach, it is believed that this code will meet the requirements of the scientific community in terms of geometric and physics accuracy especially for instrument calibration and observation analysis.

Structured dispersive sub-keV ions inside the ring current region, or so-called wedge-like dispersions, those which have been considered signatures of long-time drift by ExB and grad-vertical bar B vertical bar drifts from nightside, are surveyed using the Viking, Freja, Munin, and Cluster satellites. While the ordinary wedge-like dispersion (increasing energy with increasing latitude) is observed mainly in the morning sector at all altitudes (by all spacecrafts), the reversed wedge-like dispersion (decreasing energy with increasing latitude) is observed at different local times by different spacecrafts. The differences between spacecrafts are also found in the H+/O+ ratio and in observation frequency. The observed altitudinal difference indicates that the evolution of drifting particles depends strongly on the mass and mirror altitude.

The Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) Langmuir probe (LP) sensor observed the cold plasma environment around Titan during the first two flybys. The data show that conditions in Saturn's magnetosphere affect the structure and dynamics deep in the ionosphere of Titan. The maximum measured ionospheric electron number density reached 3800 per cubic centimeter near closest approach, and a complex chemistry was indicated. The electron temperature profiles are consistent with electron heat conduction from the hotter Titan wake. The ionospheric escape flux was estimated to be 10 25 ions per second.

The 7-10 November 2004 period contains two events for which the local ground magnetic field was severely disturbed and simultaneously, the solar wind displayed several shocks and negative B z periods. Using empirical models the 10-min RMS and at Brorfelde (BFE, 11.67° E, 55.63° N), Denmark, are predicted. The models are recurrent neural networks with 10-min solar wind plasma and magnetic field data as inputs. The predictions show a good agreement during 7 November, up until around noon on 8 November, after which the predictions become significantly poorer. The correlations between observed and predicted log RMS is 0.77 during 7-8 November but drops to 0.38 during 9-10 November. For RMS the correlations for the two periods are 0.71 and 0.41, respectively. Studying the solar wind data for other L1-spacecraft (WIND and SOHO) it seems that the ACE data have a better agreement to the near-Earth solar wind during the first two days as compared to the last two days. Thus, the accuracy of the predictions depends on the location of the spacecraft and the solar wind flow direction. Another finding, for the events studied here, is that the and models showed a very different dependence on B z . The model is almost independent of the solar wind magnetic field B z , except at times when B z is exceptionally large or when the overall activity is low. On the contrary, the model shows a strong dependence on B z at all times.