Engineering-Physics Space Plasma Seminar

High-Latitude Ionospheric Convection During Geomagnetic Storms

ZOOM LINK

Geomagnetic storms are a global phenomenon in Earth’s geospace. Driven by extreme solar wind conditions, the ring current which is formed by plasma circulating Earth in space, enhances during a geomagnetic storm. This can lead to extreme effects on technology at Earth and in space, such as damaging pipelines, railways, and telecommunication satellites. Understanding what happens during a storm is key towards effectively predicting and preparing for these space weather effects. One way to image the system’s activity, is to study plasma convection at high-latitudes. This can be used as a proxy for global plasma convection: it ties solar wind driving and internal magnetospheric activity into a measure for global activity. Using the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network, we measure the high- to mid-latitude ionospheric convection.

In this talk, I will explore how the measurements extracted from SuperDARN change during a geomagnetic storm; what happens to the high-latitude convection pattern during storm; and how measurements during geomagnetically active times compare to times of high solar wind driving when no storm occurs.

About the Speaker(s)

Maria-Theresia Walach
Lancaster University, UK

Contact

For more information, contact Simon Shepherd at simon.g.shepherd@dartmouth.edu.