Joseph Baker
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, VA·Physics
High above Earth, the ionosphere is a layer of electrically charged gas, called plasma. This plasma moves in response to energy arriving from the Sun.
- Fields
Physics
Earth & Environmental Science
Engineering
- Topics
SuperDARN
Super Dual Auroral Radar Network
ionosphere
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Operate and maintain the U.S. northern-hemisphere SuperDARN high-frequency radars, which span high latitudes from Alaska to Iceland and middle latitudes from Oregon to Virginia, to map ionospheric plasma motion.
- Improve the fidelity of ionospheric plasma convection maps and images using newly developed SuperDARN capabilities.
- Extend radar coverage with bistatic observations and add new sounding measurements to study how solar energy couples into Earth's upper atmosphere.
More about the research
Tracking that motion shows how solar energy couples into the upper atmosphere. That coupling can disturb radio communication and other technology. SuperDARN, the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network, is an international network of radars that maps these plasma motions. It supports studies ranging from small-scale plasma instabilities to the whole planet's response to changes in the space environment.
Why it matters
High-frequency (HF) radio propagation is sensitive to disturbances in the lower ionosphere, such as those caused by solar flares. Continuous radar maps of ionospheric plasma motion could improve space weather monitoring. Space weather affects the radio communication and technological systems that people depend on.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Shasha Zou
University of Michigan, MI·Physics
Track how the global ionospheric total electron content (TEC) changes over time during solar flares, using TEC data from worldwide GNSS satellite-navigation receivers paired with solar radiation from the FISM2 model or SDO EVE observations.
Shinichi Ohtani
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Earth & Environmental Science
Identify the internal and external conditions under which the dawnside wedge current system appears during geomagnetic storms, using SuperMAG-selected events and probability distributions of solar wind and magnetospheric parameters.
James Sherwood
University of Massachusetts-Lowell, MA·Engineering
Establish a tenure-track faculty line in Electrical and Computer Engineering focused on space weather, especially how disturbances in the ionosphere affect communication and navigation technologies.
The school
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: 35 labs on PI Pages, $657M a year on research, 496 research doctorates a year.
More about Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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