Searching for substorm onset using Earth's aurora

近地空间最大的未知现象之一被称为磁层亚暴，这是地球磁层突然和迅速的重新配置，导致大量能量转移到电离层，并在北方和南半球产生动态极光。主要的未决问题是什么物理过程触发亚暴，通常认为是磁尾中的等离子体不稳定性，通过拉伸磁场和通电等离子体中的能量积累而驱动不稳定。然而，亚暴被认为是在一个非常小的体积的三维空间，我们的测量是sparent.High-resolution极光观测的亚暴开始弧的演变是理解这种发病不稳定的关键。“极光珠”是一种沿亚暴起始弧沿着的行波现象，被认为是磁尾不稳定性投射到电离层中，从而可以利用电离层作为电视屏幕来遥感不稳定性的特征。作为一个大型国家财团的一部分，诺森比亚大学最近购买了4台最先进的极光相机，定于2023年在斯堪的纳维亚部署。这些极光照相机将与EISCAT_3D、建模和现场航天器的新雷达能力结合使用，以确定起始区域。您将使用新的和当前的任务，如美国宇航局的THEMIS，货车艾伦探测器任务和成像地球的磁层从即将到来的欧空局微笑使命的新能力，以确定亚暴发生的地方，关键是，为什么。

One of the biggest unknowns in near-Earth space is termed the Magnetospheric substorm, a sudden and rapid reconfiguration of Earth's magnetosphere leading to a substantial amount of energy transfer into the ionosphere and the creation of dynamic auroral displays in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The major open question is what physical processes trigger substorms, generally thought to be a plasma instability in the magnetotail driven unstable via energy accumulation in the stretched magnetic fields and energised plasma. However, the substorm is thought to be initiated in a very small volume of 3D space, and our measurements are sparse.High-resolution auroral observations of the evolution of the substorm onset arc are key to understanding this onset instability. "Auroral beads", a travelling wave phenomenon along the substorm onset arc, are thought to be a projection of the magnetotail instability into the ionosphere, allowing the instability characteristics to be remotely sensed by using the ionosphere as a TV screen.As part of a large, national consortium, Northumbria University have recently purchased 4 state-of-the-art auroral cameras due to deploy in Scandinavia in 2023. These auroral cameras will be used in conjunction with new radar capabilities from EISCAT_3D, modelling and in-situ spacecraft to pinpoint the onset region. You will use new and current missions such as the NASA THEMIS, Van Allen Probes missions and the new capabilities of imaging the Earth's magnetosphere from the upcoming ESA SMILE mission to determine where substorm onset occurs and, critically, why.