Physics department seminar-FR and SJ

Event Details:

The seminar will be held on Thursday, March 17, from 1:15 - 2:15 p.m., via MS Teams (contact physics@unb.ca for link to join).

Speaker:  Aliaa Madbouly Afify, UNB Fredericton
Topic: "Characterizing ionospheric plasma irregularities observed by GPS receivers onboard the SWARM-E satellite."

"The Earth’s ionosphere in the polar cap region has a highly dynamic and complex structure due to its direct connection to the solar wind and outer magnetosphere.  Ionospheric plasma density irregularities, which cause irregular variations in the ionosphere refractive index, frequently occur in the polar cap.  These irregularities may cause radio wave scintillation and disrupt satellite- and ground-based navigation and communication systems.  For example,  signal quality, which ionosphere irregularities can impact, is crucial for reliable operation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS, and Galileo Ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements can help researchers better understand the characteristics of ionospheric irregularities produced by solar and geomagnetic space weather.  The GPS Attitude, Position, and Profiling (GAP) experiment onboard the Swarm-E satellite includes four GPS receivers, three for topside (above spacecraft) ionospheric observations and the fourth for radio occultation observations of the ionosphere.  GAP provides high-resolution (up to 100Hz) measurements of ionospheric total electron content (TEC), allowing observation of ionospheric irregularities at a broad range of scale sizes.  The elliptical polar orbit of Swarm-E also provides observations from low to polar latitudes at a range of altitudes.  Here we study irregular variations in the GAP TEC using wavelet analysis techniques to obtain the characteristic features of small-medium scale ionospheric plasma irregularities (roughly 100s of meters up to 100 km).  We also compare the GAP TEC and associated continuous wavelet transforms (CWTs) with various solar wind parameters and geomagnetic indices (e.g. PC, AE, DST)."

NOTE: Seminar event starts at 1 p.m. to allow the speaker time to set up and time for attendees to have an open chat until the seminar start time of 1:15 p.m.