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University of California, Berkeley
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My research...
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Space Weather
At Space Sciences Lab, I am currently working on several different projects, all which lead to completing my thesis project: space weather at other planetary bodies, from the Sun out to the orbit of Saturn. I will provide more details of this in the near future, but for now I will mention that part of this research will coincide with the science for the STEREO/IMPACT project as well for the SolarCISM space weather modeling effort.
Figure on the left: LASCO C2/C3 composite image series showing a CME cloud emerging from the Sun and an ensuing proton blast that struck the SOHO instrument on 5 November 1998. Protons accelerated to 10% the speed of light arrived at SOHO in about an hour, causing numerous bright points and streaks in the last two images. Source/Credits: Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
Below are some useful spaceweather links:
LASCO Coronal Mass Ejections Lists
GOES Solar X-ray Imager Data
SSL's Solar Images and Interplanetary Data
SSL's Solar Coronal Magnetic Field Changes
SOHO images
Wilcox Solar Observatory
ACE Real Time Solar Wind Data
Satellite Situation Center
Space weather at Mars
Part of my research involves the understanding of the space weather phenomena at Mars, which will be important for current spacecraft that are there or future spacecrafts en route to the planet. This will also be important for future human exploration of this dusty red planet. Hopefully if time permits, I can investigate and study the effects of the recent solar storm activities of October/November 2003, during which fast and energetic CMEs (that is, Coronal Mass Ejections) interacted with both Earth and Mars, the latter which was in opposition.
Related to this research: I am also working on writing up a journal paper for publication that pertains to my research that I carried out as an undergraduate: using Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Magnetometer (MAG) and Electron Reflectometer (ER) data, I investigated and studied the morphology of the ionosphere/solar wind boundary (called the photoelectron boundary, or "PEB") over the large impact crater on Mars called the Hellas Basin (see 2003 Fall AGU Abstract for more info!).
Space weather at Saturn and Titan
For those who don't know, the NASA Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft has been en route to Saturn since October 15, 1997... it has arrived to Saturn on June 30th! I had the opportunity to attend the exciting Saturn Orbit Insertion event over at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and meet many different scientists who are involved in the mission. My advisor is part of the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) team which means I can play around with some the data as it comes in. More to come in the near future....
Geodynamics: Europa
What can I say? I am glutton for punishment by taking on yet another project! (I guess I am a sucker for planetary bodies.) I very interested in the mechanisms that created the current surface features we see on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. One particular feature I am interested in are the dome-shaped features and I will collaborate with Dr. Michael Manga (EPS) and Dr. Francis Nimmo (ESS at UCLA) on this research effort.
Astro Stuff
So I used to study astrophysics, which lead to my interest for our solar system. Anyway, below is a bunch of links I have accumulated that is astro-related:
Catalog of Spaceborne Imaging - A Guide to NSSDC's Planetary Image Archives
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Last Updated August 4, 2004