Associate Research Professor

My research interests include theoretical studies of the inner magnetosphere of the Earth, primarily the processes that couple the ionospheric and magnetospheric regions. I am involved in the development of theoretical models and their numerical implementation, as well as in data analysis, interpretation, and visualization.

The terrestrial ring current is an electric current flowing around the Earth at altitudes of 10,000 to 60,000 km and centered at the equatorial plane. Enhancements of this current are responsible for global decreases of the magnetic field measured at the surface of the Earth, which are known as geomagnetic storms. The main carriers of the stormtime ring current are positive ions, which are injected into the inner magnetosphere and trapped by the geomagnetic field. Drifting azimuthally around the Earth, ring current ions are lost due to collisions with neutral atoms from the geocorona, thermal electrons and ions from the plasmasphere, and scattering by plasma waves. The ring current decay during the recovery phase of the storm leads to the restoration of the surface magnetic field of the Earth to its prestorm values.

My research emphasis has been on studies of the terrestrial ring current as part of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system. The study of the energy flow throughout this system represents one of the main objectives of the NASA Living With a Star (LWS) program. My research includes simulation of geomagnetic storms with various interplanetary triggers and investigation of the causes for ring current buildup and decay. I am also involved in studies of wave-particle interactions in the inner magnetosphere, thermal electron and ion energy sources in the outer plasmasphere, and energy sources for stable auroral red (SAR) arcs.

Current Projects