Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)

Storm Chasing in the Tropics and Subtropics with the NASA INCUS Mission

When
-

Abstract: Convective Mass Flux (CMF) – the vertical transport of air and water by deep convective storms – drives the large-scale circulation, upper tropospheric moistening, high cloud-raditiave feedbacks, surface precipitation rates, and extreme weather. Despite the fundamental role played by CMF, our understanding of the processes controlling CMF is rudimentary, and the representation of CMF remains a major source of error in our numerical models across the scales.

The thermosphere and the dynamic processes driving the thermospheric responses to major geomagnetic storms

When
-

Abstract: The thermosphere is an atmospheric region from ~100 km to ~1000 km produced by the atmospheric absorption of solar UV and EUV radiation. It is the region where atmospheric species is not well mixed but diffuses with its own scale height. The thermosphere is an open system changing greatly due to the energy and momentum deposition from the magnetosphere above and the waves from the lower atmosphere.

What to expect next from NASA’s TESS Mission

When
-

Abstract: The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is NASA’s wide-field optical astrophysical observatory exploring the bright and time-variable sky. Since its launch in 2018, TESS has discovered over 500 confirmed exoplanets and over 6000 additional candidates await confirmation. Dozens of these planets’ atmospheres have been or soon will be explored by the Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes.

Observations of The Interplay Between Waves, Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence in Space Plasmas

When
-

Abstract:  Most of the observable matter in the universe is plasma, and therefore understanding its behavior is important for a variety of space, astrophysical and laboratory applications. An active topic of research in recent years has been magnetic reconnection, a process by which magnetic fields diffuse in plasma, leading to a change in magnetic field topology, an explosive release of stored magnetic energy, and the formation of jets.