PL-2 Tilting the Playing Field of the Solar Wind: The role of dipole tilt on solar wind-magnetosphere coupling

Buller Hall Newbold Auditorium

The solar wind drives the magnetospheric environment of the Earth causing explosive substorms, scintillating auroral displays, and acceleration of radiation belt electrons that can be hazardous for satellites. The Earth's magnetic field carves out a giant cavity in the solar wind and plays a vital role in the dynamics of the magnetosphere. The tilt of the magnetic field toward/away from the sun can significantly affect magnetospheric substorms, viscous transport at the magnetopause boundary, and coupling of solar wind compressions into the inner magnetosphere. This talk will explore recent observations and discuss the underlying physics of how the tilt of the dipole axis causes seasonal and diurnal variations in geomagnetic activity. J. R. Johnson received his Ph.D. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. Since then, he has held research positions at the University Alaska, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory where he served as Principal Research Physicist, Head of Space Physics from 2005-2016, and co-director of the Princeton Center for Heliophysics. He moved to Andrews University in 2016 and currently serves as a Professor of Engineering and Physics. Dr. Johnson's area of expertise is in theoretical plasma physics with emphasis on applications to space plasmas, and he has published more than 100 papers. He has led numerous research projects in solar, magnetospheric, ionospheric, planetary, and stellar physics involving many undergraduate students at Andrews, and this work is currently supported by nine NASA grants and one NSF grant. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, gardening, woodworking, kayaking, boiling maple syrup, and spending time with his family.