Space and planetary research at Lancaster University

This consolidated supports a programme of STFC-funded research into the physics of various plasma environments within our solar system. The programme is thus divided into five distinct projects, the aims of which are as follows:

- Project 1 will use spacecraft measurements to identify, model and explain the occurrence of flows in the Earth's magnetosphere whose directions disagree with expectations based on our current understanding of large-scale magnetospheric dynamics.

- Project 2 will use interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and statistical modelling techniques appropriate to extreme values to quantify the extremes of IMF strength observed at the Earth and, based on two decades of observations, estimate the expected return levels and return periods over longer timescales.

- Project 3 will explore how intrinsic asymmetries in the magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupled system affect the deposition and distribution of auroral heat throughout Jupiter's thermosphere and quantify the heat deposited directly in the mid-to-equatorial latitude thermosphere via coupling with localised stratospheric storms.

- Project 4 will investigate how remote sensing observations can reveal the distribution and transport of plasma within the magnetospheres of Saturn and Jupiter. To achieve this, we will exploit the full dataset of imagery of Saturn's auroras by the Hubble Space Telescope and a suite of instruments on board the Cassini spacecraft to determine the azimuthal and radial plasma flows and investigate their role in plasma circulation.

- Project 5 will utilise Voyager 2 flyby data in order to obtain better constraints on the internal magnetic fields, and hence interiors, of Uranus and Neptune. The motivation for this is primarily to enable a better understanding of the interiors of these planets.