Modelling the 6D near-Earth space: Aurorae and other plasma dynamics

Institutskolloquium

  • Datum: 19.03.2021
  • Uhrzeit: 10:30 - 12:00
  • Vortragende: Prof. Minna Palmroth
  • Minna Palmroth is a professor in computational space physics at the University of Helsinki and director of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research of Sustainable Space. Her particular area of interest is magnetospheric physics. She is a graduate of the University of Helsinki (MSc 1999, PhD 2003). She made her postdoc in the Finnish Meteorological Institute, where she led the department later and became the research professor. Professor Palmroth specializes on computational (space) plasma physics, concentrating on plasma kinetic, shock waves, and magnetic reconnections. She developed a global hybrid-Vlasov simulator “Vlasiator”. Professor Palmroth is a distinguished scientist, who is recognized by multiple grants and fellowships. She was the Academy research fellow and twice winner of the ERC grant.
  • Ort: Zoom Meeting Room 10
  • Gastgeber: Dmitry Moseev
  • Kontakt: dmitry.moseev@ipp.mpg.de
Modelling the 6D near-Earth space: Aurorae and other plasma dynamics

This talk presents two new developments at the University of Helsinki: World’s most accurate space environment simulation called Vlasiator, and a new citizen science project, which led to the discovery of a new auroral form. Space is notoriously difficult to measure, and at best we can have simultaneous observations from a handful of positions. On the other hand, processes in space are vast: By looking at a variation in one position, the observer is never sure whether the variation was born there or whether it is due to a change far away. That’s why we need simulations of the entire near-Earth space, however, again: space is big. To cover the whole space with an accurate plasma description was deemed impossible, but is now entirely feasible thanks to pre-exascale supercomputers and parallel technologies. The first part of the talk covers this topic: How to model near-Earth space accurately? Applications vary from space weather to fundamental science. The second part of the talk covers an exciting citizen science project that led to the discovery of the dune aurora. Dunes are a horizontal stripes in the green aurora, and are currently thought to originate from the oscillation of the underlying atmospheric density.

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