Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The terrestrial magnetosphere is created by the interaction of the Earth's internal magnetic field with the supersonic solar wind continuously streaming from the Sun. Physical processes in the near Earth space environment have tremendous effects on many aspects of modern technology. These effects include GPS accuracy, quality of high-frequency radio communications, especially at the high geographic latitudes, performance of various space assets, including numerous failures of scientific and commercial satellites. The research described in this proposal is aimed at improving our understanding of the terrestrial magnetosphere and developing research tools applicable to improving performance of space assets. The focus of our research is using advanced numerical modeling to describe and understand the physics of the near Earth space environment. To this end we will collaborate with various Canadian and International experimental space physics groups in using their data-sets to validate and improve the current generation of the global circulation models for the terrestrial magnetosphere. We will also implement additional numerical models to assess danger to satellites in space coming from high-energy electrons which often cause serious failures of satellite electronics. Various aspects of the proposed research will be used for Highly Qualified Personnel training at Master/Phd student as well as Postdoctoral levels.