Francesca Di Mare Attends Annual Asia Oceania Geosciences Society 2024 Meeting
Francesca Di Mare Attends Annual Asia Oceania Geosciences Society 2024 Meeting
New Mexico Consortium scientist, Francesca Di Mare recently attended the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) 2024 meeting this summer where she gave two presentations on her work.
The Asia Oceania Geosciences Society was established in 2003 to promote geosciences and its application for the benefit of humanity, specifically in Asia and Oceania and with an overarching approach to global issues. This conference brings together brilliant and curious researchers who are eager to connect.
At AGOS, Di Mare presented two research studies at the conference. The first was a poster titled: “What can we learn about the Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) as a turbulent phenomenon?” This poster, on her study of turbulence in STEVE, she examined the turbulence characteristics by analyzing the phenomenon’s scales, the turbulent regime, and the presence of intermittency—evidenced by localized, robust field fluctuations. She integrated in-situ measurements from the European Space Agency’s Swarm spacecraft, focusing on turbulent magnetic fields, electron density, and cross-track ion velocity, with a case study of ten events. The findings align with turbulence frameworks that describe intermittent processes transferring energy across various scales, significantly affecting overall energy dynamics.
Di Mare handed out Aurorasaurus project flyers and business cards to promote this initiative to the scientific community. The recent geomagnetic storm of May 2024 was a significant event in space weather due to the storm’s strength. Auroras were visible at unusually low latitudes, reaching regions such as China, India, and Japan, which has heightened people’s curiosity about auroral phenomena. This meeting was a good opportunity to invite others to join the Aurorasaurus project, participate in the project’s activities, subscribe to the website, and become part of the Aurorasaurus community.
The second presentation was a talk titled: “New regime of inertial Alfven wave turbulence from TRICE-2 observations“. Di Mare analyzed data from The Twin Rockets to Investigate Cusp Electrodynamics (TRICE-2), launched from Norway’s Andøya Space Center on December 8, 2018. This study uncovered a new type of turbulence in the Earth’s polar ionosphere—waves moving along the Earth’s magnetic field lines, known as inertial Alfven waves. Unlike previous observations, this turbulence not only energizes electrons through Landau damping but also protons through a mechanism called cyclotron damping. The turbulent energy flows to smaller scales via a new pathway.
Di Mare found South Korea to be a truly enchanting place, where history and progress blend seamlessly. She said, “It feels like being in a place rich with historical significance while standing at the forefront of a continually evolving era”.