Recent  

Measurements of the electric field and neutral wind in the ionosphere are important for understanding energy flows or electric currents. With incoherent scatter radars (ISR), we can measure the velocity of the ions, which depends on both the electrical field and the neutral wind. In the paper, we are investigating methods to use ISR data to find reasonable values for both parameters. We find that electric field can be well measured down to 125 km height and neutral wind below his height.

The 2020 summer season has revealed frequent occurrences of noctilucent clouds around the Northern hemisphere at middle latitudes (45–55° N). We have found that there has been a moderate decrease in the upper mesosphere temperature between 2016 and 2020 and no dramatic changes have been observed in temperature in the summer of 2020 at the middle latitude mesopause. At the same time, water vapor concentration has significantly increased in the zonal mean H₂O value in the 2020 summer.

An original instrument was created – “DIAS” Software for detection, identification and analyzing of ionosphere anomalies from satellite spectrograms and time series rows data from instruments onboard DEMETER satellite. Using this Software, in the ISTT the research of ionosphere parameters variations caused by various anthropogenic and natural factors are provided. These scientific data processing and visualization technologies can be used for other scientific space missions.

The Sun’s magnetic field is carried across space by the solar wind – a hot plasma “stream” of ions and electrons – forming the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). The IMF can introduce asymmetries into the Earth's magnetic field, giving plasma flowing within it a direction dependent on IMF orientation. Electric currents in near-Earth space can also influence these plasma flows. We investigate these two competing mechanisms and find that the currents can override the IMF control of the flow.

Spacecraft missions do not always record observations at the highest possible resolution: the so-called burst mode is switched on only occasionally. It is of paramount importance that processes of interest are sampled in burst mode. At the moment, many missions rely on a "scientist in the loop", that decides when to trigger burst mode by looking at preview data. Our work constitutes a first step towards making this decision automatic, to improve mission operations and decrease human bias.

The study presents long-term attitudinal changes and variability (spatial and temporal, during 2000–2017) in the coverage of snow and glaciers in one of the world’s largest mountainous regions, the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. The western zone and high-altitude regions (above 6000 m) show no significant decline in snow cover whereas the lower altitude regions (< 6000 m) show a variable but statistically significant decline in snow cover in the central and eastern zones (5–15 %).

This manuscript summarises the results obtained by analysing the solar radio bursts detected by a single spectrogram installed at the University of Rwanda through the collaboration and the initiation of the Space weather initiative. We aimed to show that data gaps in African continent can be tracked by the deployment of sheap spectrograms but their regular maintenance matters. In addition, the results show that the observation at a single station is a clue to invent the gaps in space monitoring.

Extreme rainfall and floods pose natural hazards with major socio-economic and health impacts. It is shown that heavy rainfall tends to follow arrivals of high-speed solar wind streams. The role of atmospheric waves generated in the auroral region as the mechanism mediating the influence of solar wind on tropospheric weather is suggested. These waves can trigger instabilities, thus initiating convection and releasing latent heat, which is the energy leading to intensification of storms.

This paper is the first to simulate and analyse the pulsating aurorae impact on middle atmosphere on monthly/seasonal time scales. We find that pulsating aurorae has the potential to make a considerable contribution to the total energetic particle forcing and increase the impact on upper stratospheric odd nitrogen and ozone in the polar regions. Thus it should be considered in atmospheric and climate simulations.

On 15 October 2020, BepiColombo used Venus as a gravity assist to change its orbit to reach Mercury in late 2021. During this passage of Venus, the spacecraft entered into Venus's magnetotail at a distance of 70 Venus radii from the planet. We have studied the magnetic field and plasma data and find that Venus's magnetotail is highly active. This is caused by strong activity in the solar wind, where just before the flyby a coronal mass ejection interacted with the magnetophere of Venus.