Geospace Phenomena: Assessing Danger and Understanding Mechanisms

太阳风与地球的相互作用，就像我们熟悉的风一样，会带来破坏性的风暴。能量可以在“亚暴”中以爆炸性的方式释放，亚暴通常以引人注目的极光为特征。这种“太空天气”发生在近地空间的湍流等离子体中。描述它的特征需要在地球和空间的许多点同时进行测量，我们的物理理解是基于对关键位置数据的仔细解释。磁层或地球周围的保护性磁壳的物理学仍然是科学界的一个重大挑战。我们必须推断物质和能量如何在地球附近移动，通常是从最少的数据中。我的研究使用磁场和我们在地面上测量的其他量来提供空间天气拼图中缺失的部分。我们在加拿大的仪器使测量成为现代卫星群测量的补充。通过提高我们对那里发生的复杂过程的理解，我们还将实现从导航到电力传输等领域的实际应用。

The solar wind’s interaction with Earth can, like the familiar wind, bring on damaging storms. Energy can be released in an explosive way in “substorms”, which often feature dramatic auroras. This “space weather” takes place in the turbulent plasmas of near-Earth space. Characterizing it requires simultaneous measurements at many points on Earth and in space, and our physical understanding is based on careful interpretation of data from critical locations. The physics of the magnetosphere, or protective magnetic shell around the Earth, remains a major challenge in science. We must infer how matter and energy move near Earth, often from a minimum of data. My research uses magnetic fields and other quantities we measure on the ground to supply missing pieces of the space weather puzzle. Our instruments in Canada make measurements complementary to those from modern fleets of satellites. By improving our understanding of the complex processes that take place there, we will also enable practical applications in areas ranging from navigation to power transmission.