Capstone projects:

1) Investigating the Performance of a Semi-Professional Magnetometer for
Space Weather Research: 13 Years of Measurements from a Backyard in
Anchorage

and

2) EMITRACK: Electromagnetic Wave-Meteor Interaction Tracking, Analysis, and Recording Kit

1) Space weather is an important field of study for Alaska as it can impact the everyday lives of Alaskans. One way that Space Weather can cause disruptions is through geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) which can occur along power transmission lines, pipelines, and railroads. Geomagnetic disturbance measurements are one way of studying when and where GICs can occur which is essential for safeguarding Alaska’s infrastructure. The Space Weather Underground (SWUG) project, founded by Charles Smith at the University of New Hampshire, was created to increase measurements of geomagnetic disturbances by deploying low-cost arrays of magnetometers using Simple Aurora Magnetometers (SAM) provided by Whit Reeves. In 2020, the University of Alaska Fairbanks developed their own SWUG program for understanding these geomagnetic disturbance effects in Alaska. This project’s research was motivated by investigating the capabilities of SAM-III, for understanding Space Weather related disturbances. I obtained a unique dataset of SAM-III data, curated by Whit Reeves, spanning at least one solar cycle, and developed tools and datasets to analyze and study it with first comparing it to NAROD science-grade magnetometers deployed across Alaska as a part of the Geophysical Institute Magnetometer Array (GIMA). I investigated the dependencies of this semi-professional magnetometer scientifically and operationally by analyzing its relation to the solar cycle and subsurface temperature at Eagle River close to where it is deployed. With these analyses I was able evaluate the performance of SAM-III and provide guidance for optimizing its performance for GIC research.

and

2) Meteors traveling through Earth's atmosphere result in the formation of ionized trails in their wake. Ground based radars can reflect EM waves off these trails. Through an analysis of the radar return, one can extract both meteor and atmospheric data. Data recorded by the UAF Meteor Radar showed unexpected oscillations in the decay scheme of the received power from a meteor. It is hypothesized that these oscillations are the result of Mie scattering, a phenomenon that results in an oscillating radar cross-section as a function of target radius and radar wavelength. EMITRACK attempts to computationally model this interaction using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method in 2 dimensions. FDTD is a robust, cheap, and intuitive method for EM simulations that solves Maxwell’s equations using finite approximation of the derivative at points across a staggered “Yee lattice” in the time domain. By measuring the magnitude of the scattered electric field at an emitter's position over time and comparing the magnitude across orthogonal wave polarizations, researchers can better understand the role of Mie scattering in the interaction. This presentation will focus primarily on the development of the EMITRACK FDTD program, data collected using the program, and future objectives of the project.