Lillian Daneshmand, a graduate research assistant in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has received an Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) Graduate Fellowship for a project that will study chorus wave modulation during pulsating aurora events.

This ISGC program is designed to support outstanding graduate students pursuing NASA-aligned research opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines. Program goals include alignment with the NASA Mission Directorates, encouragement of qualified individuals to continue in a space science or aerospace-related field, support of research infrastructure at our member institutions, and retention of U.S. graduates.

Working with Associate Professor Allison Jaynes, Daneshmand is leading a project titled “Ground- and Space-Based Study of Chorus Wave Modulation During Pulsating Aurora Events” to investigate how wave dynamics in Earth’s inner magnetosphere influence pulsating aurora (PA)—a diffuse aurora that appears as patches which repeatedly dim and brighten. The particle precipitation that creates PA is primarily driven by a type of wave called chorus waves, which appear as quasi-periodic bursts of wave power. The research team will study the mechanisms that modulate chorus waves during PA events. 

One candidate for this modulation is Ultra-Low Frequency (ULF) waves, which are standing waves in the magnetosphere. These ULF waves can be classified depending on the direction of their oscillation in the magnetic field. Each type of ULF wave is associated with different energy sources in the magnetosphere and surrounding space. To simultaneously study the magnetospheric waves and the aurora, the researchers will perform a conjunction study of the Van Allen Probes satellite mission and the THEMIS array of ground-based auroral all-sky imagers (ASIs). A combination of in situ wave data and ASI observations of PA will be used to identify how often and what types of ULF waves modulate chorus waves during PA events. Researching this phenomenon will improve the understanding of how energy flows in near-Earth space during space weather events.