Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)

Particle acceleration in asymmetric magnetic reconnection

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Abstract: Magnetic reconnection in asymmetric environments such as the solar corona and Earth’s magnetosphere exhibits distinct particle acceleration behavior compared to symmetric cases, due to differences in plasma density and magnetic field across the current sheet. Using 3D hybrid and particle-in-cell simulations, we explore how this asymmetry influences particle acceleration. We find that increasing asymmetry leads to a systematic reduction in particle acceleration efficiency.

JWST images of dynamic infrared aurora and a new look at auroral precipitation

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Planetary magnetospheres provide natural laboratories for the study of space plasmas, and Jupiter’s magnetosphere in particular acts as a bridge between those phenomena we can study in detail at Earth, and those beyond the solar system that we can only glimpse through telescopes. Jupiter’s auroras have been studied for many years with increasing sensitivity and resolution, but the James Webb Space Telescope offers a revolutionary perspective of these spectacular emissions.

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

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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

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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.