The U.S. National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and U.S. territories. NSF was established in 1950 by Congress to promote the progress of science, advance the national health, prosperity and welfare, and secure the national defense.
The Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) program is focused on understanding atmospheric behavior from the middle atmosphere upward through the thermosphere and ionosphere into the exosphere. It aims at exploring coupling, energetics, chemistry, and dynamics on regional and global scales. This encompasses both the impact of upward-propagating perturbations from the lower atmosphere and the effects of solar radiation and particle inputs from above. The program integrates observations from both ground-based and space-based platforms with theory and modeling.