What details can we uncover about the Farley-Buneman, also known as the two-stream, plasma density instability in the auroral E-region ionosphere through utilization of the Swarm satellite constellation and ground based instrumentation?

Devin is a postdoctoral fellow in Space Physics at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.  He obtained his B.Eng. (2010), M.Sc. (2013), and Ph.D. (2019) at the University of Saskatchewan, with his Ph.D. focused on the design, construction, and operation of a novel coherent scatter radar system to measure plasma density irregularities in the E-region ionosphere.  The radar is named ICEBEAR and will be utilized in conjunction with the instruments onboard the Swarm satellites and the Saskatoon SuperDARN radar for the studies to be performed as part of his Living Planet Fellowship project.  Devin is a part of the NSERC CREATE International Space Mission Training Program in Canada, as well as a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan, the American Geophysical Union, and the European Geosciences Union.

Research objectives

• Create software to map and compare Swarm measurements with ground based instrumentation
• Investigate the Farley-Buneman instability in the E-region ionosphere using Swarm measurements and ground based coherent scatter radars
• Determine if there is a relationship between locations of E-region plasma density irregularities and ion upflow
• Investigate potential Alfvén wave signatures in co-located E-region coherent scatter radar and Swarm measurements

Read more in the research project sheet.

Publications

Huyghebaert, D., Hussey, G., Vierinen, J., McWilliams, K., & St.‐Maurice, J.‐P. (2019). ICEBEAR: An all‐digital bistatic coded continuous‐wave radar for studies of the E region of the ionosphere. Radio Science, 54, 349– 364. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018RS006747