The Team

Dr. Ian R. Mann

Department of Physics, University of Alberta.

Dr. Mann is a Professor and former Canada Research Chair in Space Physics (2003-13) in the Department of Physics at the UofA. He was also the inaugural Principal and Co-Director of the UofA Institute for Space Science, Exploration and Technology (2007-2014) and was named by the Caldwell Partners International and the Globe and Mail as one of “Canada’s Top-40-Under-40” in 2009. He is an expert in the experimental and theoretical analysis of ULF waves, and their impact on energetic particles in the magnetosphere. He is the PI of the CARISMA ground-based magnetometer array, having lead its $1.3M CAD expansion to 28 stations and the addition of a new network of 8 pairs of induction coil magnetometers, and is the PI of the proposed Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Outer Radiation Belt Injection, Transport, Acceleration and Loss Satellite (ORBITALS) small satellite mission. He is also a Co-I on the NASA THEMIS mission, on the NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission launched in 2012, was a member of the Science Working Teams for the CSA element of the proposed SCOPE mission, and for the ESA Cross- Scale mission. He is currently a member of the COSPAR/ILWS Space Weather Roadmap Team and is the United Nations international Co-Chair of the Expert Group on Space Weather. Author or coauthor of more than 100 refereed scientific papers.

Mr. David Barona

Department of Physics, University of Alberta

Mr. Barona is a Research Associate (Trust Professional) at UofA. Mr. Barona has a BSc in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and worked as the Payload Support and Systems Engineer In Training (EIT) for the CSA ORBITALS satellite Phase A2 and the PRIMO payload for PCW in Phases 0/A. Mr. Barona has specialized in the management of research and technology development projects and has developed specific skills for the effective management of space research and space instrumentation projects funded by national and international agencies as well as industrial partners. As part of this group, he has managed over $8M in projects of scientific and technical natures. His role in the proposed work is to provide Project Management expertise, monitor, control and manage the work being proposed to ensure success of the project. He will be responsible for the overall communication between the team members. He will also liaise with any external organizations as required by the project.

Dr. Louis Ozeke

Department of Physics, University of Alberta

Dr. Ozeke completed a PhD from the University of York in 2003. His thesis entitled “Modelling the Generation and Properties of Guided Alfvén Waves in the Earth’s Magnetometers” described how ring current ions can generate ULF waves, producing wave’s with different properties in the morning and afternoon sections, matching the observations made with ground-based magnetometers. The first numerical solutions of the guided Alfvén wave equations where also presented in this thesis and several papers showing how the ionosphere affects the properties of these waves. After graduating Dr. Ozeke began working at the University of Alberta and gained over 10 years’ experience on using ground magnetometer data in combination with models to understand the properties of ULF waves and how the waves are generated. Most recent researched has involved understanding the impact of ULF waves on radiation belt electrons, culminating in the development of ULF wave radial diffusion coefficients driven using ground magnetometer data and an online model for forecasting the dynamics and energization of the outer radiation belts, available at www.spaceweatherforecast.ca. His role in the proposed work is to provide theoretical input and interpretation of the impact of the ionosphere on the propagation of Alfven waves.

Dr. Ivan Pakhotin

Department of Physics, University of Alberta

Dr. Pakhotin has expertise in radiation belt modelling and in multi-spacecraft observations of inner magnetospheric plasma waves. During his PhD at the University of Sheffield, he developed a new radiation belt prediction system that combined two existing radiation belt prediction approaches - one based on system science and one based on physical theory - into a unified scheme. The combined system, dubbed VNC, was able to make predictions of the behaviour of the entire outer radiation belt while requiring no input from separate electron convection models. Instead, the outer boundary was provided via the University of Sheffield's SNB3GEO model which uses nonlinear estimation to predict high-energy electron fluxes at geosynchronous orbit. Given this input, the electron dynamics were simulated by the VERB code developed at UCLA. Dr Pakhotin also used the phase differencing methodology to calculate the dispersion relation from a Cluster observation of an EMIC triggered emission. In his thesis, he outlined a means to statistically estimate EMIC minimum resonant energies to solve a long-standing question of just how important the instability is in relation to outer radiation belt dynamics. His role in the project will be to use data analysis to study EMIC waves and the Ionospheric Alfven Resonator using ground-based and space-borne magnetometers.

Dr. Jonathan Rae

Department of Space and Climate Physics, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London

Dr. Rae is a Lecturer in UCL's Department of Space and Climate Physics at Mullard Space Science Laboratory, and has an international reputation in magnetospheric substorms and radiation belts, with particular emphasis on electromagnetic wave processes. He has published extensively on the spatial structure and temporal evolution of auroral current systems with particular reference to generation and evolution of field-aligned current systems that form the basis of this proposal. He has published 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including papers in Science and Nature, and currently has an h-index of 16. His role in the proposed work is to analyse the impacts of ULF waves on FAC in the Swarm data.

Dr. Colin Forsyth

Department of Space and Climate Physics, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London

Dr. Forsyth is a senior Research Associate at UCL's Department of Space and Climate Physics at Mullard Space Science Laboratory. He is an internationally-acknowledged expert in auroral physics, in particular in magnetospheric substorms and related phenomena and in magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. He has extensive expertise in using multi-spacecraft measurements to determine the structure and evolution of field-aligned current systems, which will be pivotal for this proposal. He has published 31 papers in peer-reviewed journals. His role in the proposed work is to use his prior expertise in applying Amperes Law, including MVA, to determining FAC from magnetic field measurements from single and multiple satellites in the Swarm constellation based on prior experience from similar Cluster data analysis.

Dr. David Knudsen

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary

Dr. Knudsen is the lead scientist for the Swarm Electric Field Instruments. He has been responsible for producing a design concept capable of meeting the EFI’s scientific performance requirements; for supporting industry in the design implementation; and for overseeing testing, calibration, delivery, on-orbit commissioning, and commencement of scientific operations of the Swarm EFIs. He is also responsible for coordinating the Canadian national science effort for the EFI’s. Preliminary scientific results from flight data have been presented by himself and members of his group (Burchill (RA), Patrick (MSc), Archer (PhD)) at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco (Dec 2013), the European Geophysical Union Meeting in Vienna (May 2014), the 3rd Swarm Science Meeting in Copenhagen (June 2014), and the NSF CEDAR Workshop in Seattle (June 2014), with first scientific publications now in preparation. His role in the proposed project is to assist with the access and interpretation of the Swarm data, including level-0 ion drift and density estimates at 16 samples per second in addition to the level-1b products at 2 per second.

Dr. Johnathan Burchill

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary

Dr. Burchill is an Electric Field Instrument Scientist at the University of Calgary, and is the lead developer of the Swarm EFI Level 1b Prototype Processor and Instrument Simulator. Following a PhD in 2003 at UofC, he was a National Research Council Resident Research Associate and NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Goddard Space Flight Centre. Dr. Burchill's activities include in-flight calibrations of the EFI Thermal Ion Imagers, supporting the monitoring and maintenance of the imager data, and assessing and improving EFI Level 1b processing algorithms. His scientific interests focus on high-latitude ionospheric upflow and outflow. He won the American Geophysical Union Scarf Award for outstanding PhD thesis in 2005. Dr. Burchill's role in the proposed project is to support access to Swarm EFI Level 1b and Level 0 data, to assess measurement quality with the aid of sophisticated imager simulations, and to collaborate on scientific papers related to the project.

Dr. Georgios Balasis

Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens

Dr. Balasis is a Researcher at NOA/ISARS. His research interests lie mainly in Sun-Earth connection, dynamics of the magnetosphere and complex systems. He has published 30 refereed papers and has received 250+ citations. One of his papers was highlighted in 2007 as Science magazine Editors’ Choice in the field of Astrophysics. He has been the convener of session “Open session on Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism” in the 2009 and 2010 European Geosciences Union General Assembly. Dr. Balasis is the National Delegate of Greece to the Programme Board of European Space Agency’s Space Situation Awareness (SSA) Preparatory Programme. He has been involved in the Swarm mission as a member of the Calibration/Validation (Cal/Val) Team of the Swarm Mission and a member of the Quality Working Group (QWG) of the Swarm Mission. He has also been the Principal Investigator of the Swarm Mission Science Exploration [Swarm Science and Validation Opportunity proposal: “Validation of Swarm Level 1b data using a wavelet-based approach and observations from ESA's Cluster mission”]. In his work, he has helped to develop the time-frequency analysis (TFA) tool within the frame of the ULF wave study (“Multi-Satellite, multi-instrument and ground based observations analysis and study of ULF wave phenomena and products”), which was an ESA-funded study (7/2011-7/2014). Furthermore, this study exploited data from magnetosphere and topside ionosphere missions (ESA’s Cluster, JAXA’s Geotail, NASA’s ST5 and CHAMP), in combination with ground-based magnetometer data (e.g. IMAGE, CARISMA, GIMA arrays), with a focus on the scientific problem of ultra-low frequency (ULF) wave generation and propagation. Thus, the ULF wave study also allowed to geophysically validate some of ESA’s Swarm data products, especially those related to the magnetic and electric fields in the magnetosphere. His role in the proposed work is to provide interpretation of the magnetic field data from the Swarm mission, as well as analysis of the FAC data products from the Swarm Cal/Val team and the QWG. He will also provide access to the analysis tools and output from the wavelet tools being developed for Swarm under contract. Finally he provides a team interface to the Swarm Cal/Val team and the QWG.

Dr. Ioannis Daglis

Department of Physics, University of Athens

Dr. Daglis is the Director of NOA/ISARS since 2006. He has 20 years experience in space plasma physics, with more than 70 scientific papers in refereed journals and 3 books on Space Weather, 1400+ citations and a Thomson h-index of 20. His book “Space Storms and Space Weather Hazards” (2001) is “recommended teaching material” of the United Nations Space Science & Technology Curriculum. He has been a member of the Solar System Working Group - the advisory committee of ESA on Solar System Science (2006-2010); Greek Delegate to the FP7-Space Programme (2006-2009); member of the Science Definition Panel for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Mission of NASA; Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA); and the Editor for Magnetosphere and Space Plasma Physics of Annales Geophysicae. He has been a Co-Investigator on three NASA missions (SAC-B, Polar, THEMIS) and one ESA mission (BepiColombo). He received the NASA Group Achievement Award (1998) for his contribution to the Global Geospace Science program and the ESA Individual Achievement Award for his contribution to the Cluster mission (2010). His role in the proposed work is to provide ULF wave analysis and interpretation expertise in collaboration with Balasis.

Dr. Jesper Gjerloev

Applied Physics Laboratory, John Hopkins University

Dr. Gjerloev has two decades of experience with Magnetosphere-Ionosphere research. He is currently heavily involved with the Swarm missions as a member of the Calibration and Validation team, performing research and by having SuperMAG supporting Swarm. He was invited and gave talks at the Swarm Quality Working Group meeting at ESRIN, Rome, and the recent Swarm Science Meeting held in Copenhagen. He is an author of two Swarm papers at the upcoming Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco. His role in the proposed work is to provide interpretative support for dis-entangling the spatio-temporal ambiguities implicit in the Swarm magnetic field data as a Consultant to the PI, and based on his extensive experience analysing ST5 data.

Dr. Kyle Murphy

Goddard Spaceflight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dr. Murphy’s research focuses on magnetic substorms and Ultra Low Frequency Waves. In particular, with regards to substorms his research concentrates on the physical process (or processes) leading to the explosive release of energy at substorm onset, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling during substorms and auroral morphology and dynamics through substorm onset. With regard to ULF waves his research concentrates on the energization of plasma within the Earth’s magnetosphere via wave-particle interactions and statistical studies of ULF wave power for linking ULF waves to magnetosphere dynamics and improving physics based models of the Earth’s radiation belts. Dr. Murphy is an expert in observational analysis from both ground- and space based instrumentation, as well as the analysis of large data sets having developed several novel analysis techniques for studying substorms and ULF waves and in statistical databases. This includes analysis of particle and electric and magnetic field data, riometer data and all-sky imagers and AMPERE satellite constellation data. Dr. Murphy has also received 18 academic awards, including a Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship. His role in the proposed work is to provide analysis and mapping of bays and Pi1-2 waves in CARISMA array data, and analysis of secondary data sets including form THEMIS and GO Canada All-Sky-Camera data and AMPERE data.