Research Highlights
Research Highlights
Advancing Heliophysics and Space Weather Modeling through Open Science
HAO first author, Michael Wiltberger, et. al. highlight a community-wide effort to understand how “open science” practices can better support research and forecasting in heliophysics and space weather.
Quantifying Day-To-Day Variability of the Ionosphere and Thermosphere Induced by Upward Propagating Migrating Diurnal and Semidiurnal Tides
Tianyang Hu, Liying Qian, Nicholas Pedatella, Wenbin Wang, and Quan Gan use a whole atmosphere model, the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere‐ionosphere eXtension (WACCM-X), to investigate the role of upward propagating migrating diurnal and semidiurnal tides on the day-to-day variability in the I-T system.
A Multi-layer Magnetohydrodynamic Shallow-water Model of The Solar Tachocline: Equilibrium Shape and Thickness
M. Dikpati and P. A. Gilman build a multi-layer MHD shallow-water model to study the thickness and shape of a the solar tachocline allowing them to include characteristics of both the overshoot and the radiative parts of the tachocline.
MHD-tachocline-model solutions of magnetic vectors
S. Chatterjee and M. Dikpati develop PINNBARDS, a novel Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN)-Based AR Distribution Simulator, that uses observational toroids and MHD-SWT equations to derive initial state-vector. This framework provides the first plausible method for reconstructing state-vectors for hidden tachocline magnetic structures from surface patterns; this could potentially lead to accurate prediction of flare-producing AR-emergence weeks ahead.
Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH)
Sarah Gibson, et. al. present the two science objectives behind the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission: (1) understand how coronal structures become the ambient solar wind, and (2) understand the dynamic evolution of transient structures, such as coronal mass ejections, in the young solar wind. PUNCH is a NASA Small Explorer launched in March of 2025 and began science operations in June of 2025.
Efficiency of Electromagnetic Energy Transfer from Solar Wind to Ionosphere through Magnetospheric Ultra-Low Frequency Waves
Dong Lin, Michael Hartinger, William Lotko, Wenbin Wang, Xueling Shi, Bharat Kunduri, Viacheslav Merkin, Kareem Sorathia, Kevin Pham, and Michael Wiltberger perform idealized numerical experiments to investigate the electromagnetic energy flow in response to undulating solar wind. The theoretical study provides new understanding of the significance of the electromagnetic energy flow and its dependence on different parameters.
Behaviors of Interhemispheric Coupling in Different Boreal Winter Subseasons During Major SSWs
Zishun Qiao, Nicholas Pedatella, Alan Liu, Han-Li Liu, Joseph Mclnerney investigate the behaviors of the typical interhemispheric coupling (IHC) in different boreal winter subseasons during major sudden stratospheric warming (SSW).
Influence of the Stratospheric Quasi-Biennial Oscillation on the Seasonal Variation in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere Based on a Long-Term Reanalysis JAWARA
D. Koshin and K. Sato discuss the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in terms of the semiannual oscillations (SAOs) around the stratopause and the mesopause, and the tides, using the long-term global reanalysis for the whole neutral atmosphere over 19 years of 2004–23.
Polarization fringes in optical systems: a compendium
R. Casini and D. M. Harrington review the fundamental mechanisms that are responsible for instrumental artifacts that can affect the accuracy of optical designs conceived for high-sensitivity spectroscopy and polarimetry. Modeling examples are used to highlight the salient characteristics of polarization fringes, as well as to assess how approximate treatments such as this compare to exact but more computational expensive formulations of the problem such as Berreman's calculus.