MIST

Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial

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Announcement of New MIST Councillors.

We are very pleased to announce the following members of the community have been elected unopposed to MIST Council:

  • Rosie Johnson (Aberystwyth University), MIST Councillor
  • Matthew Brown (University of Birmingham), MIST Councillor
  • Chiara Lazzeri (MSSL, UCL), Student Representative

Rosie, Matthew, and Chiara will begin their terms in July. This will coincide with Jasmine Kaur Sandhu, Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, and Sophie Maguire outgoing as Councillors.

The current composition of Council can be found on our website, and this will be amended in July to reflect this announcement (https://www.mist.ac.uk/community/mist-council).

Nominations are open for MIST Council

We are very pleased to open nominations for MIST Council. There are three positions available (detailed below), and elected candidates would join Georgios Nicolaou, Andy Smith, Maria-Theresia Walach, and Emma Woodfield on Council. The nomination deadline is Friday 31 May.

Council positions open for nomination

2 x MIST Councillor - a three year term (2024 - 2027). Everyone is eligible.

MIST Student Representative - a one year term (2024 - 2025). Only PhD students are eligible. See below for further details.

About being on MIST Council

If you would like to find out more about being on Council and what it can involve, please feel free to email any of us (email contacts below) with any of your informal enquiries! You can also find out more about MIST activities at mist.ac.uk. Two of our outgoing councillors, Beatriz and Sophie, have summarised their experiences being on MIST Council below.

Beatriz Sanchez-Cano (MIST Councillor):

"Being part of the MIST council for the last 3 years has been a great experience personally and professionally, in which I had the opportunity to know better our community and gain a larger perspective of the matters that are important for the MIST science progress in the UK. During this time, I’ve participated in a number of activities and discussions, such as organising the monthly MIST seminars, Autumn MIST meetings, writing A&G articles, and more importantly, being there to support and advise our colleagues in cases of need together with the wonderful council members. MIST is a vibrant and growing community, and the council is a faithful reflection of it."

Sophie Maguire (MIST Student Representative):

"Being the student representative for MIST council has been an amazing experience. I have been part of organizing conferences, chairing sessions, and writing grant applications based on the feedback MIST has received. From a wider perspective, MIST has helped to grow and support my professional networks which in turn, directly benefits my PhD work as well. I would encourage any PhD student to apply for the role of MIST Student Representative and I would be happy to answer any questions or queries you have about the role."

How to nominate

If you would like to stand for election or you are nominating someone else (with their agreement!) please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 31 May. If there is a surplus of nominations for a role, then an online vote will be carried out with the community. Please include the following details in the nomination:

  1. Name
  2. Position (Councillor/Student Rep.)
  3. Nomination Statement (150 words max including a bit about the nominee and focusing on your reasons for nominating. This will be circulated to the community in the event of a vote.)

MIST Council details

  • Sophie Maguire, University of Birmingham, Earth's ionosphere - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Georgios Nicolaou, MSSL, solar wind plasma - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, University of Leicester, Mars plasma - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Jasmine Kaur Sandhu, University of Leicester, Earth’s inner magnetosphere - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Andy Smith, Northumbria University, Space Weather - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Maria-Theresia Walach, Lancaster University, Earth’s ionosphere - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Emma Woodfield, British Antarctic Survey, radiation belts - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • MIST Council email - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Winners of Rishbeth Prizes 2023

We are pleased to announce that following Spring MIST 2023 the Rishbeth Prizes this year are awarded to Sophie Maguire (University of Birmingham) and Rachel Black (University of Exeter).

Sophie wins the prize for the best MIST student talk which was entitled “Large-scale plasma structures and scintillation in the high-latitude ionosphere”. Rachel wins the best MIST poster prize, for a poster entitled “Investigating different methods of chorus wave identification within the radiation belts”. Congratulations to both Sophie and Rachel!

As prize winners, Sophie and Rachel will be invited to write articles for Astronomy & Geophysics, which we look forward to reading.

MIST Council extends their thanks to the University of Birmingham for hosting the Spring MIST meeting 2023, and to the Royal Astronomical Society for their generous and continued support of the Rishbeth Prizes.

Nominations for MIST Council

We are pleased to open nominations for MIST Council. There are two positions available (detailed below), and elected candidates would join Beatriz Sanchez-Cano, Jasmine Kaur Sandhu, Andy Smith, Maria-Theresia Walach, and Emma Woodfield on Council. The nomination deadline is Friday 26 May.

Council positions open for nomination

  • MIST Councillor - a three year term (2023 - 2026). Everyone is eligible.
  • MIST Student Representative - a one year term (2023 - 2024). Only PhD students are eligible. See below for further details.

About being on MIST Council


If you would like to find out more about being on Council and what it can involve, please feel free to email any of us (email contacts below) with any of your informal enquiries! You can also find out more about MIST activities at mist.ac.uk.

Rosie Hodnett (current MIST Student Representative) has summarised their experience on MIST Council below:
"I have really enjoyed being the PhD representative on the MIST council and would like to encourage other PhD students to nominate themselves for the position. Some of the activities that I have been involved in include leading the organisation of Autumn MIST, leading the online seminar series and I have had the opportunity to chair sessions at conferences. These are examples of what you could expect to take part in whilst being on MIST council, but the council will welcome any other ideas you have. If anyone has any questions, please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..”

How to nominate

If you would like to stand for election or you are nominating someone else (with their agreement!) please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 26 May. If there is a surplus of nominations for a role, then an online vote will be carried out with the community. Please include the following details in the nomination:
  • Name
  • Position (Councillor/Student Rep.)
  • Nomination Statement (150 words max including a bit about the nominee and your reasons for nominating. This will be circulated to the community in the event of a vote.)
 
MIST Council contact details

Rosie Hodnett - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mathew Owens - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Beatriz Sanchez-Cano - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jasmine Kaur Sandhu - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Andy Smith - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Maria-Theresia Walach - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Emma Woodfield - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
MIST Council email - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

RAS Awards

The Royal Astronomical Society announced their award recipients last week, and MIST Council would like to congratulate all that received an award. In particular, we would like to highlight the following members of the MIST Community, whose work has been recognised:
  • Professor Nick Achilleos (University College London) - Chapman Medal
  • Dr Oliver Allanson (University of Birmingham) - Fowler Award
  • Dr Ravindra Desai (University of Warwick) - Winton Award & RAS Higher Education Award
  • Professor Marina Galand (Imperial College London) - James Dungey Lecture
Full details can be found here: https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/royal-astronomical-society-unveils-2023-award-winners.

A Model of High Latitude Ionospheric Convection derived from SuperDARN radar EOF Data

By Mai Mai Lam (British Antarctic Survey)

Variations in space weather in the ionized region of the Earth’s atmosphere (the ionosphere) can result in expansion of the atmosphere, increasing the atmospheric drag on objects, such as satellites, in the thermosphere. We aim to significantly improve the forecasting of the effects of atmospheric drag on satellites by more accurate modelling of space weather effects on the motion of ionized particles (plasma) in the ionosphere. We have developed a model of the variation in plasma motion using a small number of solar wind variables. The model was built using a solar cycle’s worth (1997 to 2008 inclusive) of 5-minute resolution Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) patterns derived from Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) line-of-sight observations of the plasma motion in the high-latitude northern hemisphere ionosphere (Shore et al., 2021). The model is driven by four variables: (1) the interplanetary magnetic field component By, (2) the solar wind coupling parameter epsilon, (3) a trigonometric function of the day-of-year, and (4) the monthly solar radio flux at 10.7 cm (the F10.7 index). Our model is good at reproducing the original data set - if 0 indicates that there is no reproduction and 1 indicates exact reproduction, then our model scores 0.7. Data set reproduction is best around the maximum in the solar cycle and worst at solar minimum. This is mainly due to differences in the spatiotemporal data coverage between these times but possibly also due to the model’s specification of the physical processes coupling the Sun to the Earth’s ionosphere. Our model could easily be used to forecast the ionospheric electric field about 1 hour in advance, using the real-time solar wind data available from spacecraft located upstream of the Earth.

Comparison of the new Lam 2023 model velocities with the original radar EOF velocities. 5-min snapshots of the high-latitude flow in magnetic latitude (60 – 90 ºN) and magnetic local time (12 is towards the Sun), for times when Lam model can explain the variance of the original data very well (high P) and not very well (low P). The top row shows velocities at a time when the percentage of explained variance P is high (February 2001): (a) the SuperDARN radar EOF data patterns, (b) the Lam 2023 model. The bottom row is for a time of low P (June 1999): (c) the SuperDARN radar EOF patterns, (d) the Lam 2023 model. Colour is used to indicate speed.
Comparison of the new Lam 2023 model velocities with the original radar EOF velocities. 5-min snapshots of the high-latitude flow in magnetic latitude (60 – 90 ºN) and magnetic local time (12 is towards the Sun), for times when Lam model can explain the variance of the original data very well (high P) and not very well (low P). The top row shows velocities at a time when the percentage of explained variance P is high (February 2001): (a) the SuperDARN radar EOF data patterns, (b) the Lam 2023 model. The bottom row is for a time of low P (June 1999): (c) the SuperDARN radar EOF patterns, (d) the Lam 2023 model. Colour is used to indicate speed.


References:
Lam, M. M., Shore, R. M., Chisham, G., Freeman, M. P., Grocott, A., Walach, M.-T., & Orr, L. (2023). A model of high latitude ionospheric convection derived from SuperDARN EOF model data. Space Weather, 21, e2023SW003428. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003428

Shore, R. M., Freeman, M., Chisham, G., Lam, M. M., & Breen, P. (2022). Dominant spatial and temporal patterns of horizontal ionospheric plasma velocity variation covering the northern polar region, from 1997.0 to 2009.0 - VERSION 2.0 (Version 2.0) [Dataset]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/2b9f0e9f-34ec-4467-9e02-abc771070cd9