11/13/2024
By Lynne Schaufenbil

Please join the Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology on Thursday, November 21 at 11 a.m. for the virtual seminar "What do coronal mass ejection complexity evolution and space weather at Mercury have in common?" by Professor Reka Winslow.

Abstract:
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are the primary drivers of adverse space weather in the inner heliosphere. Interactions between CMEs and other interplanetary structures can significantly alter their global and local properties during propagation, leading to increased complexity. Studying CMEs as close to the Sun as possible, in their earliest evolutionary phases, and following the same events as they reach farther distances (e.g., near Earth) is essential for understanding how their complexity evolves. So, what does this and space weather at Mercury have in common? It turns out, a very useful dataset. I will talk about this dataset, and how we have used it to advance studies on both CME evolution and Mercury’s magnetosphere. In extreme cases, CMEs observed by the MESSENGER spacecraft have compressed Mercury’s dayside magnetosphere to the planet’s surface, which is a phenomenon that has not been observed at any other planet so far. The high frequency of CME encounters during MESSENGER’s four-year orbital mission has enabled both individual case studies and statistical analyses of space weather effects on Mercury’s magnetosphere, as well as extensive research on CME interplanetary evolution, which I will summarize.

Bio:
Réka Winslow is a research associate professor in space physics at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Her research focuses on observational studies of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), small flux ropes, and galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) to better understand their evolution in the inner heliosphere and their interaction with planetary magnetospheres in the solar system. Recently, she served as the Deputy PI for the IMAP-Lo instrument for NASA’s IMAP mission, facilitating the design, build, and test of the instrument, working with a large team of engineers and scientists across five different institutions in the US and Europe. In the past, she was a member of the science team for the PLASTIC instrument on STEREO, the CRaTER instrument onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the MAG instrument on MESSENGER. Currently, she is the founder and director of the recently opened UNH Space Technology Hub, connecting the decades of space research, engineering expertise, and testing facilities at the UNH Space Science Center with the commercial space industry. Réka holds a PhD in Geophysics and a BSc in Honors Physics and Astronomy from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

To participate, please contact Lynne_Schaufenbil@uml.edu for the Zoom link.