Daniel is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, specializing in magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling. He mainly works with data from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), using it along with other instruments to probe the effects of ionospheric flows on the upper atmosphere. Daniel completed a Masters in Astrophysics at Aberystwyth University, UK, …
The Earth’s upper polar atmospheric region is constantly bombarded with energy input from the interaction between the magnetosphere and the solar wind. This controls immediately visible phenomena like the aurora borealis and australis, but also results in changes to the composition and dynamics of the atmosphere itself. The total rate of electromagnetic energy per unit …
Using information from ESA’s Swarm satellite constellation, scientists have made a discovery about how energy generated by electrically-charged particles in the solar wind flows into Earth’s atmosphere – surprisingly, more of it heads towards the magnetic north pole than towards the magnetic south pole. Read the full story. This research was supported by the ESA …
“The challenges of COVID-19 made travel unavailable, but nonetheless the Living Planet Fellowship provided an excellent opportunity to interact and collaborate with fellow scientists performing diverse research with the ESA satellite missions. I am grateful for the opportunity provided by the ESA Living Planet Fellowship to both perform research with the Swarm satellite measurements and …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Devin Huyghebaert. The Swarm SuperDARN ICEBEAR Collaboration – Turbulent E-region Aurora Measurements (SSIC-TEAM) project will focus on the Farley-Buneman Instability (FBI) and its effects on plasma density irregularity and turbulence generation in the E-region ionosphere. A better understanding of the FBI is required due to its potential for …
Brought to the interest of the scientific community by the citizen Aurora Chasers group of amateur photographers and enthusiasts, the intriguing nighttime optical phenomenon which got its name “Steve” after an animated movie scene, got an honorary “Sky Wonders” coin, issued by the Canadian Coin & Currency. ESA Living Planet Fellow William Archer with the University …
Steve is a nighttime optical phenomenon shown to be associated with intense subauroral ion drifts (SAID). The phenomenon is described as a purple band of light equatorward of aurora and it is sometimes accompanied by periodic green emissions termed “picket fence”. There are several hypotheses on the physical mechanisms that could be causing Steve and …
New research published in Geophysical Research Letters investigates in-situ ionospheric plasma measurements from the European Space Agency’s Swarm satellites coincident with ground-based optical measurements of the phenomenon known as “Steve”. The authors show that Steve is consistently associated with narrow ionospheric flow channels called subauroral ion drifts (SAID). These observations are unusually intense with faster …
“I greatly appreciate the freedom provided by the ESA Living Planet Fellowship to choose which scientific threads to follow. Meeting other Fellows outside of my field-of-expertise was an incredible way to learn about the diverse advances being made with ESA satellite measurements.” After the end of the Living Planet Fellowship, William was working as …
“The Living Planet Fellowship allowed me to continue in the direction I was pursuing previously, bringing some impactful work to completion. At the same time the networking opportunities allowed me to make new contacts and advance my career.” After the end of the Living Planet Fellowship, Ivan was a Research Associate at the University …
