Faculty Candidate Physics Dept Seminar

February 28th, Wednesday (*SPECIAL DAY*)

Understanding the Geospace Environment in the Modern Era:

Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Outlook

Dr. Jacob Bortnik

UCLA

(Terrestrial Physics, Host: Gerrard)

*SPECIAL TIME: 2:45pm-3:45pm with 2:30pm teatime

*SPECIAL ROOM: Tiernan 406

The modern technological era presents a vast range of research opportunities in the context of the Geospace environment: numerous scientific satellites make up the so-called Heliophysics System Observatory and measure nearly every region of near-space, complemented by observations spanning the solar system from the sun, to the heliopause.  On the other hand, many of our technological advances (including satellites, long transmission lines, and communication systems) have left us vulnerable to the effects of space weather, and in fact, a recent report by Lloyd’s of London states that a major geomagnetic disturbance, for instance one that is comparable in intensity to the 1859 Carrington event, could result in as much as $2 trillion of damage, and would take decades to recover from.  In this talk, I give a brief introduction to the space environment and its impact on human technological systems, I briefly discuss my current projects that are underway whose aim is to better understand the physics governing the dynamics of the inner magnetosphere, and I will talk about the future of the field, and where I believe the major opportunities lie for future research.