Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
Mesospheric Response to the 2022 Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha`apai Volcanic Eruption
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Abstract: On January 15, 2022, the eruption of a submarine volcano in Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha`apai (HTHH, 20.54°S, 175.38°W) resulted in a volcanic plume that reached a height of 57 km, increasing the total stratospheric water vapor burden by 10% and forming a sulfate aerosol layer. Satellite observations in the summer of 2022 revealed the lowest tropical mesospheric temperatures and highest extratropical mesospheric temperatures observed in the past 20 years.
Difficultly is Moot – a case for in situ measurements of the atmosphere
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Abstract: The title of this presentation was inspired by my response to a reviewer comment on a recent paper: the technique proposed … requires a sophisticated instrumentation that is largely restricted to heavy airborne platforms…hence limiting the application of this technique… That review motivates me to broadly justify the science t
Gravity waves and traveling ionospheric disturbances in the stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere from mountain waves, the polar vortex, the Tonga eruption and deep convection via multi-step vertical coupling
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Abstract: Atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) are created in the troposphere from wind flow over mountains, and in the stratosphere below the maximum of the polar vortex from imbalance of the polar vortex. Because these GWs are slow, they cannot propagate directly to the thermosphere due to dissipation from breaking/critical level filtering and molecular viscosity.
Can the tail wag the dog? The influence of micro-instabilities on collisionless plasma shocks.
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Abstract: Collisionless shocks are ubiquitous and hugely important in space and astrophysical plasmas. In hot and rarified (weakly collisional) plasma, the energy dissipation necessary for such a shock to exist must be provided by kinetic processes, among which plasma instabilities have long been considered primary candidates.
New Insights into Particle Acceleration at Shocks from Parker Solar Probe
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Abstract: I will discuss recent insights into the physics of particle acceleration based on spacecraft observations of shocks associated with fast coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The acceleration of charged particles to high energies is a fundamental topic in plasma astrophysics. High energy particles themselves are useful probes of processes occurring far from Earth, either near the solar atmosphere, in the outer heliosphere, or in distant astrophysical sources, such as supernovae blasts.
Characteristics of Multi-Scale Current Sheets in the Solar Wind at 1 AU Associated with Magnetic Reconnection
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Abstract: The solar wind is a turbulent plasma regime that supports current sheets of many spatial scales. The vast majority of current sheets are narrower than 400 km. We associate these kinetic-scale current sheets with solar wind turbulence at 1 AU. The largest current sheet is 64,000 km wide on average, or 150 times wider than the more prevalent and turbulent ones.
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