Research Highlights

Bernadett Belucz, Mausumi Dikpati, Scott W. McIntosh, Robert J. Leamon, and Robertus Erdelyi discuss the Extended Solar Cycle (ESC) activity and strong overlapping between cycles. They compute the unstable eigenmodes for MHD Rossby waves at the base of the convection zone and study how the properties of these energetically active Rossby waves change as these band-pairs migrate equatorward.

Mausumi Dikpati, et. al. present findings of a unique evolution of identified shorter periodicities in global solar activity variation, like the Rieger-type, arising from magnetic Rossby waves, throughout the Solar Cycles 19-25. They report is further observational evidence of the strong relationship between the Rieger-type periodicity, magneto-Rossby waves, and major solar flare activity.

Astrid Maute, et al. assert that biases against marginalized groups and institutions can be mitigated by avoiding heavy-weighting metrics such as h-index and past awards. Progress has been made in recent years thanks to the efforts of the Nominating Task Force and this committee and AGU’s efforts to acknowledge and mitigate implicit biases. However, we must continue to be vigilant and work towards ensuring we recognize all those who are deserving of becoming an AGU fellow.

Dr. Astrid Maute talked to a large number of heliophysicists while attending the CEDAR 2022 workshop. In this paper she describes a concerning number of heliophysicists that shared terrifying stories and experiences of bullying, harassment, burnout, etc., from across career levels, institution types, and job titles. While writing these position papers, the number of people who privately shared terrifying stories and experiences of bullying and harassment was insane.

Astrid Maute asserts the importance of bringing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts to the forefront of Heliophysics over the next decade and well beyond. This position paper outlines three specific recommendations to make the Heliophysics community more diverse, equitable, and inclusive by improving the accessibility and accountability.

S. Danilovic, J. P. Bjørgen, J. Leenaarts, and M. Rempel discuss the important role of Rapid blue- and red-shifted events (RBEs/RREs) in mass-loading and heating the solar corona, but their nature and origin are still debatable. They model these features to learn more about their properties, formation and origin.

B. C. Low reviews the two-plate initial boundary-value problem of Parker, treating the relaxation of a 3D magnetic field prescribed with an arbitrary topology to a terminal force-free field in a cold, viscous, electrically perfect fluid-conductor. Anchored by their foot-points at the perfectly conducting rigid plates, the relaxing field preserves its topology.

K. H. Pham, W. Wang, H. Liu, D. Lin, M. Wiltberger, et al. discuss how during geomagnetic storms, increased activity within the geospace environment causes large scale plasma convection to occur and electrons to precipitate into the upper atmosphere. The enhanced heating of the thermosphere by the plasma convection and electron precipitation can produce large perturbations in the neutral density. 

Wenbin Wang, Liying Qian, et. al. investigate the crests variations and associated ionosphere-thermosphere disturbances following the 2022 Tonga Volcano eruption, dramatic suppression and deformation of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) crests occurred in the American sector ∼14,000 km away from the epicenter.