Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Undergraduate
Project Type
individual
Campus
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Grace Gratton, Sophomore
Lead Presenter's Name
Grace Gratton
Lead Presenter's College
DB College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Mentor Name
Samantha Wallace
Abstract
The solar wind is a constant outflow from the Sun that continuously bombards Earth with magnetic fields and electrically charged particles. This outflow poses a threat to satellites near Earth which provide services essential to society, such as GPS and communications. It is well established that geomagnetic disturbances at Earth occur regularly from the background solar wind, outside of times when there is a large-scale solar eruption such as a coronal mass ejection (CME). Thus, it is important to understand what aspects of the background solar wind cause geomagnetic disturbances that adversely impact our space-based assets, and forecast when such events will occur. The properties of the solar wind are largely determined by where the plasma originated from on the Sun. However, the solar sources of geomagnetic disturbances are largely uncharacterized because it is only possible to determine where the solar wind originated from on the Sun with the use of a model. In this work, we combine modeling and data analysis to characterize a series of events observed by the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) instrument, in which particle precipitation occurs in Earths upper atmosphere associated with ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves, that were directly driven by periodic mesoscale structures in the solar wind at the same frequency. In this quasi-statistical study, we use the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) solar wind model to derive the sources of solar wind measurements back at the Sun. We categorize these events as originating from one of the three types of coronal magnetic field (active region, quiet Sun, or coronal hole). We also determine the solar wind composition for each event which provides further information about where the solar wind originated from at the Sun. This work is a critical first step to having a future capability of forecasting when the background solar wind will contain periodic mesoscale structures, and if they will be geoeffective.
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
No
Characterizing the Solar Sources of Periodic Mesoscale Solar Wind Structures that Drive Particle Precipitation in Earth’s Upper Atmosphere
The solar wind is a constant outflow from the Sun that continuously bombards Earth with magnetic fields and electrically charged particles. This outflow poses a threat to satellites near Earth which provide services essential to society, such as GPS and communications. It is well established that geomagnetic disturbances at Earth occur regularly from the background solar wind, outside of times when there is a large-scale solar eruption such as a coronal mass ejection (CME). Thus, it is important to understand what aspects of the background solar wind cause geomagnetic disturbances that adversely impact our space-based assets, and forecast when such events will occur. The properties of the solar wind are largely determined by where the plasma originated from on the Sun. However, the solar sources of geomagnetic disturbances are largely uncharacterized because it is only possible to determine where the solar wind originated from on the Sun with the use of a model. In this work, we combine modeling and data analysis to characterize a series of events observed by the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) instrument, in which particle precipitation occurs in Earths upper atmosphere associated with ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves, that were directly driven by periodic mesoscale structures in the solar wind at the same frequency. In this quasi-statistical study, we use the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) solar wind model to derive the sources of solar wind measurements back at the Sun. We categorize these events as originating from one of the three types of coronal magnetic field (active region, quiet Sun, or coronal hole). We also determine the solar wind composition for each event which provides further information about where the solar wind originated from at the Sun. This work is a critical first step to having a future capability of forecasting when the background solar wind will contain periodic mesoscale structures, and if they will be geoeffective.