Auroral Joule heating and its consequences - From global to regional scales
Auroral Joule
Project information
Project duration
-
Funded by
Research Council of Finland
Project coordinator
University of Oulu
Unit and faculty
Contact information
Project leader
- Senior Research Fellow
Project description
Understanding the dynamics of the space environment is a key task in the solar-terrestrial research. It's also a perquisite for providing space weather forecasts to protect vulnerable technological systems. For example, satellites at low Earth orbit (LEO) experience increased orbital decay during large auroral storms.
In this project we'll study auroral heating of the upper atmosphere, which is due to the Ohmic heating of electrical currents and the impact of energetic particles that create auroral emissions. In addition to global observation networks, we'll utilize two new research infrastructures being build in Lapland: the EISCAT_3D radar system measures the ionized plasma in the upper atmosphere, while a network of Scanning Doppler Imagers (SDI-3D) detects the motion of the neutral gas. These two new facilities, together with existing ground-based instruments and frequent overpasses by research satellites makes northern Fennoscandia the best place in the world to study aurora.
For a related project concentrating on space weather effects to LEO satellites, see the JOIN project funded by the European Space Agency.
Project results
Kärhä O., E. Tanskanen, H. Vanhamäki: Large regional variability in geomagnetic storm effects in the auroral zone. Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46352-0, 2023.
Juusola L., A. Viljanen, N. Partamies, H. Vanhamäki, M. Kellinsalmi, and S. Walker: Three principal components describe the spatiotemporal development of meso-scale ionospheric equivalent currents around substorm onsets. Ann. Geophys., https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-483-2023, 2023.
Pitkänen T., G.S. Chong, M. Hamrin, A. Kullen, H. Vanhamäki, J.-S. Park, M. Nowada, A. Schillings, E. Krämer: Fast earthward convection in the magnetotail and nonzero IMF By: MMS statistics. J. Geophys. Res., https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JA031593, 2023.
Wang X., L. Cai, A. Aikio, H. Vanhamäki, I. Virtanen, Y. Zhang, B. Luo, and S. Liu: Ionospheric conductances due to electron and ion precipitations: A comparison between EISCAT and DMSP estimates. J. Geophys. Res., https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JA032354, 2024.
Oyama S., H. Vanhamäki, L. Cai, A. Shinbori, K. Hosokawa, T. Sakanoi, K. Shiokawa, A. Aikio, I. Virtanen, N. Nishitani, Y. Ogawa, Y. Miyoshi, S. Kurita: Thermospheric wind response to March 2023 storm: Largest wind ever observed with a Fabry-Perot interferometer in Tromsø, Norway since 2009. Space Weather, http://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003728, 2024.
Laitinen J., L. Holappa and H. Vanhamäki: A Combined effect of the Earth's magnetic dipole tilt and IMF By in controlling auroral electron precipitation. J. Geophys. Res., https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JA032040, 2024.
Madelaire M., K. Laundal, S. Hatch, H. Vanhamäki, J. Reistad, A. Ohma, V. Merkin, D. Lin: Estimating the Ionospheric Induction Electric Field using Ground Magnetometers. Geophys. Res. Lett., https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105443, 2024.
Hatch S.M., H. Vanhamäki, K.M. Laundal, J.P. Reistad, J. Burchill, L. Lomidze, D. Knudsen, M. Madelaire, and H. Tesfaw: Does high-latitude ionospheric electrodynamics exhibit hemispheric mirror symmetry? Ann. Geophys., https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-229-2024, 2024.