Geospace Phenomena: Assessing Danger and Understanding Mechanisms

太阳风与地球的相互作用可能会带来破坏性的风暴，就像我们熟悉的风一样。能量可以在“亚风暴”中以爆炸性的方式释放，通常以戏剧性的极光为特色。这种“太空天气”发生在近地空间的湍流等离子体中。表征它需要在地球和太空中的许多点同时进行测量，而我们对物理的理解是基于对来自关键位置的数据的仔细解释。磁层的物理学，或地球周围的保护性磁壳层，仍然是科学中的一个重大挑战。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。我的研究使用磁场和其他我们在地面上测量的量来补充太空天气谜题中缺失的部分。我们在加拿大的仪器使测量结果与现代卫星机队的测量结果相辅相成。通过提高我们对那里发生的复杂过程的理解，我们还将使从导航到电力传输等领域的实际应用成为可能。

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.