Collaborative Research: Supersubstorms--Their Driving and Responses in the Magnetosphere, Ionosphere, and Thermosphere

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Supersubstorms are events that release extreme amounts of energy in the Earth's magnetosphere. When these space weather storms occur, they drive unique responses throughout the outer layers of the atmosphere - including the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere. This work will study the properties of the solar wind, magnetosphere, and ionosphere during supersubstorms and determine how they differ from weaker storms. Understanding supersubstorms is important in preparing for extreme space weather events, which can cause disruptions in high frequency communications and degradation and damage to satellite systems. This research will also support early career scientists and results will be incorporated into public outreach events and undergraduate classes at Boston University (BU) and University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA).The scientific goal of the project is to determine solar wind, magnetosphere and ionosphere conditions during supersubstorms, and their differences from typical substorms. Specifically: (1) What are solar wind driving conditions of supersubstorms and preconditions in magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere (M-I-T) coupling? (2) What are M-I-T responses to supersubstorms? (3) What are similarities and differences in M-I-T responses during supersubstorms and during typical substorms and storms? Since extreme events are not common enough for a statistical study, this work is based on analyses of multiple events with favorable space-ground conjunctions. Solar wind observations (from ACE, WIND, ARTEMIS, Geotail and Cluster) will be used to characterize solar wind conditions. Magnetosphere observations (from THEMIS, Cluster, RBSP, GOES) will quantify nightside magnetospheric responses near midnight. Auroral imagers will specify location, size, timing and duration of events. Other ionosphere and thermosphere observations will be used to quantify strength of precipitation, currents and neutral winds. Those properties will be compared to typical substorms and storms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.