System Science and the ITM lab

Space does not have boundaries - well often not hard boundaries. Energy, particles, fields, and more can move between and drive dynamics in near by populations and areas. So while some scientists study a single phenomena or processes deeply, unraveling the nuances of a single process, others study their connection to the broader view. You need both types of science and researchers! And when they come together you can see amazing new studies and insights into how the world and universe work. Many in the ITM lab work at being the connectors between different groups and systems. Here are three of the main areas we apply this system science approach

Whole atmosphere modeling building the on ramp from the Earth into space

As your interface with space lab, we work to form bridges between the atmospheric and terrestrial groups and the bottom layers of space. As this is such a large endevor, the details of this group have their own page where you can read more about this work.

Ionosphere-Thermosphere-Mesosphere coupling

The Ionosphere-Thermosphere-Mesosphere (ITM) region extends from ~50-400 km above the surface and it is inaccessible to sustained study from in situ satellites due to large atmospheric drag. This ITM system responds to energy input derived from the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling. Our lab utilizes a full suite of techniques to study this interaction, including ground-based radar, auroral imagers, magnetometers, meteor radars, space based in situ (e.g., including cubesats and rockets) and remote measurements (e.g., ICON, GOLD), as well as numerical modeling

The work of our lab focuses on the neutral and ionized plasma responses to energy input from the solar-wind/magnetosphere interaction and also the feedback of the ITM system back out to the near-Earth space environment, which modifies this two-way coupling. Plasma from the magnetosphere deposits energy into the ITM system, ionizing previously neutral particles creating a plasma. These neutral and plasma populations operate under different governing physics, with the plasma tightly coupled to the magnetic field while the neutrals are not. This leads to a complex interplay between ions and neutrals that is the heart of the ITM system response.

Energy input into the ITM system is focused on key regions, including the cusp and auroral zone. Once deposited, this energy propagates across the entire ITM system in complex and currently poorly understood ways.

Solar Wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling

In Earth's upper atmosphere charged particles (the ionosphere) and neutral gases (the thermosphere) co-exist. The ionosphere is electromagnetically coupled with the magnetosphere by the magnetic fields and the electric currents flowing along the field lines (field-aligned currents, or FACs). The ionosphere is frictionally coupled with the thermosphere through plasma-neutral collisions, which feeds back to the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Magnetospheric energy, originating from the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction, is transported to the upper atmosphere in the forms of electromagnetic energy flux carried by FACs. The electromagnetic energy flux accounts for 80-90% of the total energy input and is the dominant driver of thermospheric heating.

Scientists in our lab also investigate the physical processes occurring in the magnetosphere, examining how it responds to solar wind drivers and interacts with the ionosphere, using in-situ measurements of electric and magnetic fields in space. Science topics include magnetospheric and ionospheric current systems and plasma waves over a wide frequency range, from ultra-low frequency (ULF), very-low frequency (VLF) up to high frequency (HF). Currently, we are analyzing electric and magnetic field data from past and current NASA missions, such as DE-2, FAST, Polar, C/NOFS, and MMS.