Space Physics Seminar fall-2016

4D Space Research Activities at the University of Oslo

The Earth’s atmosphere coupling to space offers us an opportunity to study multi-scale plasma physical processes of critical importance in order to develop space weather forecast models for e.g. ionospheric scintillations of radio signals and atmospheric drag on satellites. This talk presents prioritized space research at the University of Oslo, Norway. The 4DSpace strategic research initiative was kicked off three years ago. The long term vision for this initiative is to understand the role of plasma turbulence in coupled space plasma systems. Plasma turbulence processes represent one of the outstanding major challenges in classical physics, where central problems have not yet been adequately understood. This requires a multi-scale approach and there is need to develop new experimental tools. UiO has developed a sounding rocket program to take advantage of combining ground-based remote and in-situ measurements of auroral processes. Recent results will be presented along with further plans to develop the next generation experiments to observe turbulence in ionospheric plasma. This is fundamental research that is motivated by applications. International collaboration, miniaturization of instruments, and combining experiment, theory and numerical works are keys to success. The purpose of the Grand Challenge Initiative – Cusp multi-rocket campaign will be presented. This is a US, Japan and Norway collaborative rocket campaign that will be conducted in Svalbard and North Norway the winter of 2018/19. This project is open for contributions by satellites and ground based observations, as well as theory and modelling efforts.