Research Highlights
Research Highlights
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.
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.
Quantifying the Impact of Solar Irradiance Uncertainty on Thermosphere-Ionosphere Variability Using Ensemble Forecasts
C.T. Hsu, N.M. Pedatella investigate the sensitivity of the thermosphere and ionosphere to variations in solar spectral irradiance (SDO and SORCE mission data). This work highlights the importance of accounting for uncertainty in external solar energy input in space weather models and demonstrates the value of data-informed ensemble simulations in improving the accuracy and reliability of thermosphere and ionosphere forecasts.
Contribution of Gravity Waves to the Lower Thermospheric Winter-to-summer Meridional Circulation in High-resolution WACCM-X
D. Koshin, N. M. Pedatella, A. K. Smith, and H.-L. Liu analyze the role of gravity waves contributing to winter polar region circulation using output from a high-resolution simulation. In the winter middle atmosphere, gravity waves with eastward phase speeds are generated around the polar vortex and propagate into the lower thermosphere.
Spectropolarimetric Inversion in Four Dimensions with Deep Learning (SPIn4D): II. A Physics-Informed Machine Learning Method for 3D Solar Photosphere Reconstruction
Matthias Rempel, et. al. introduce a novel, Physics-Informed Machine Learning method to infer the three-dimensional (3D) solar atmospheric structures from observations to advance the understanding of the magnetic fields and electric currents that drive solar activity.
Local Time Variability of Gravity Wave Activity Revealed by SABER Temperature Observations
D. Koshin, N. M. Pedatella, A. K. Smith, and H.-L. Liu investigate diurnal variability in gravity wave activity, which is an indication of the interaction between gravity waves and tides using satellite observations
MHD simulations of CME with associated prominence eruption
Yuhong Fan uses magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to find the formation of a prominence-cavity system that qualitatively reproduces several observed features including the cavity, the prominence “horns”, and the central “cavity” enclosed in the “horns” above the prominence.