Near Earth's space
The research focuses on the dynamics of the solar wind interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere and it's further coupling to the ionosphere and thermosphere.
Some of the main research topics addressed are the bow shock physics, particularly the formation of localized jets, wave genereation, structure formation and electron acceleration. In addition, we study the properties of magnetosheath jets and magnetopause reconnection. At lower altitudes we study magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, the physics of auroral acceleration region and aurora formation, including transpolar arcs. An important topic is the dynamics of ionospheric physics and it's coupling to the thermosphere.
Currently the main sources of data from the magnetosphere are the NASA MMS and ESA Cluster missions, both consisting of four identical satellites orbiting the Earth in formations. We participate actively in the data analysis as well as in the operations planning.
Auroral processes are studied using data from low Earth orbit satellites and sounding rockets, such as, Astrid-2, Freja, Viking and the auroral fine structure from the ground, using the ASK instrument.
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