Space and Atmospheric Electricity

This group studies how electrically charged particles affect the solar and terrestrial atmospheric environments. The most important source of charged particles is the Sun which emits a stream of electrons and protons that make up the solar wind. More energetic protons and alpha particles constitute galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) which originate from stellar explosions called supernova in our galaxy. We investigate how the solar wind and GCRs are modulated by the solar cycle and what effect this has on physical processes in the atmosphere and ultimately whether this could effect the Earths climate.

Electric charge is a fundamental property of nature which is responsible for one of the four fundamental forces, the electromagentic force. Of course, humans have mastered this force to create the modern world we see around us today, but nature has been utilizing the properties of the electric charge long before we had any knowledge of what charge is. On the cellular scale, information is transmitted by voltages that stimulate receptor cells in neurons. This is how the brain sends information and instructions to the rest of the body. There are also stunning exhibitions of electrical interactions in the natural world, for instance thunderstorms transferring charge from clouds to Earth energetically in the form of lightning. The same phenomenon can be seen in the ash clouds of violent volcanic eruptions. We also see the beautiful aurora at the poles of the planet where the charged solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere.