Faculty Candidate Physics Dept Seminar

March 26, Monday

Large-Scale Multi-Point Observations of the Sun-Earth Connection

Dr. Hyomin Kim

Dept. of Physics, NJIT

(Terrestrial Physics, Host: Gary)

*SPECIAL TIME: 2:45pm-3:45pm with 2:30pm tea time

*SPECIAL ROOM: Tiernan 409

A flow of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the solar wind, is connected to the Earth’s magnetic environment, forming a unique structure called the magnetosphere and ionosphere, and impacting human technologies (“space weather”). Starting with a brief history of space science and background information about the solar-terrestrial environment, this talk presents NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial (CSTR) activities for in-situ and ground-based observations of the Sun-Earth connection, focusing primarily on solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling via waves in space plasma. One of the major research focuses of CSTR is to operate ground-based magnetometer arrays in various polar regions including Antarctica and northern Canada. Through collaborations with US and international institutes, NJIT CSTR is playing a leading role in establishing and expanding a large-scale high-latitude magnetometer network, a critical infrastructure for space science and space weather research. Recently, a new center under CSTR, called Polar Engineering Development Center (PEDC), has been established to lead and carry out the ground-based science instrument projects more efficiently. Waves in space plasma are typically observed by space-borne and ground-based magnetometers. Such waves display their physical characteristics and interaction with plasma particles: i.e., perturbation, resonance, propagation and precipitation, which are important processes in solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. In this talk, examples of large-scale multi-point wave observations are presented using data from various spacecraft orbiting in the magnetosphere and ionosphere, and high-latitude ground-based magnetometers. CSTR’s future outlook for large-scale magnetometer arrays and new direction to strengthen our research activity is also briefly discussed.