We are aiming to develop new modeling and simulation capabilities to study space weather processes near the Earth, with a particular focus on processes affecting the Earth's ionosphere and plasmasphere.

A major current effort aims to couple the SAMI3 (SAMI3 is Another Model of the Ionosphere) ionosphere model to a magnetospheric magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. This will enable the coupled system to more accurately capture the magnetospheric impacts on the ionosphere, including the effects of the magnetosphere on high-latitude ionospheric conductivity, field-aligned currents, geomagnetic storms, and (indirectly) particle precipitation. These effects are particularly important during geomagnetic storms.

We plan to use the coupled model to study ionospheric irregularities that result from storm-time interaction between the magnetosphere and ionosphere. These irregularities can be detected by ground-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers and by radio interferometry. Results of the coupled simulation will be compared with both GNSS and radio interferometric observations.

key words

ionosphere; magnetosphere; modeling; software development; model development; model coupling; space weather; space physics

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants