Martino Marisaldi, UiB, ALOFT deputy Principal Investigator and mission scientist now on duty at McDill, declared: ‘This is extremely exciting! During the first flight we already reached many of the scientific goals of the mission. I think the ALOFT will reshape this scientific field for the years to come.’

Read more here about the ALOFT program.

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The University of Malaga (UMA) in Spain has recently awarded this magnetar paper the First Prize for Excellence Research Works! Here is a link to the letter of award (in Spanish). Also, a link to all the media news that were written after the publication of the paper back in December 2021.

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EISCAT_3D is a new auroral radar at Skibotn, Troms, Norway. This research infrastructure will – for the first time – provide 3D images of the atmosphere (density, tempeture and winds) above the Fenno-Scandinavian Arctic with a high spatial resolution (a few hundred meters). This means that EISCAT_3D is well suited for e.g. space weather forecasts.

Prof. Kjellmar Oksavik has been interviewed about EISCAT_3D in the recent edition of Apollon. The article is entitled “Skal avsløre farlige solstormer med tusenvis av nye antenner” (in Norwegian only).

Update: The Oksavik-interview is now found in several magazines, including forskning.no, Teknisk Ukeblad and Computerworld.

Also, you can watch more about the importance of EISCAT_3D in the video clip below, with expert commentary by (among others) Kjellmar Oksavik and Lisa Baddeley from BCSS.

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• “Norske forskere får 200 EU-millioner” (forskning.no, Norwegian)
• “Ni forskere i Norge henter hjem 200 millioner kroner” (Fagpressenytt, Norwegian)
• “Space scientist Karl Magnus Laundal awarded prestigious ERC Grant” (UiB, English)
• “Four researchers awarded ERC Consolidator Grants” (UiB, English)
• “Nine researchers in Norway bring home NOK 200 million” (Norway Post, English)
• “Ni forskere i Norge henter hjem 200 millioner kroner” (Khrono, Norwegian)
• “Fire forskere tildelt ERC Consoldiator Grant” (UiB, Norwegian)
• “Prestisjetung ERC-tildeling til romforsker Karl Magnus Laundal” (UiB, Norwegian)
• “ERC Consolidator Grants 2022” (ERC, English)

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«This is really great news»! Space scientist Karl Magnus Laundal at the Birkeland Centre for Space Science, University of Bergen, is both excited and very happy after today’s announcement from the European Research Council (ERC). Around lunchtime, it was announced that Laundal will be among the researchers awarded this year’s «ERC Consolidator Grants». These are stipends with a considerable economical framework in the order of 2 million Euros. According to Laundal, the money will be spent on a project to unveil the coupling between the Earths atmosphere and space.

Researcher Karl Magnus Laundal. Photo: UiB

«When colorful aurora lights up a dark sky, this phenomenon is in fact a visual manifestation of the interaction between plasma from space and the Earths atmosphere. However, even though this interplay has been known for decades, there are still many unresolved mysteries» Laundal explains, and refers to a remarkable discovery from his own doctoral thesis more than 10 years ago: «Thanks to satellite measurements recorded simultanously above the Earth’s northern and southern hemispheres, we were able to show that the northern and southern lights can be completely different. Though still today, we are not able to explain why this asymmetry occurs» says Laundal.

The groundbreaking research result by then PhD candidate Karl M. Laundal and his supervisor Nikolai Østgaard was put on the front page of the prestigious journal Nature on July 23, 2009.

Develop a 3D Model

In the new project, Karl Magnus Laundal will replace the two-dimensional space-atmosphere coupling models currently used in the space community with a three-dimensional numerical model yet to be developed. Such an «upgrade» will make for a much more realistic representation of the laws of Physics.

Another main limitation today is that most measurements suffer from poor spatial and/or temporal resolution. However, this may soon be about to change: «In a short time we should expect high-resolution measurements of plasma and magnetic fields from NASA’s EZIE satellites and from the new EISCAT3D radar system, which means that this will be a perfect time to start developing our model», an excited Laundal explains.

Important to monitor Space Weather

Even though it is the curiosity to understand the world that drives Karl Magnus Laundal, he acknowledges that his research will provide much needed information to understand space weather. «In today’s world, our satellites and airplanes are vulnerable during periods with increased interplanetary and geomagnetic activity. Also, another problem may arise from the fact that space weather may cause perturbations on the ground, causing blackouts in the electric power grid», Laundal says.

About Karl Magnus Laundal

Karl Magnus Laundal has been working at the Birkeland Centre for Space Science (BCSS) since 2013, when BCSS was named a «Centre of Excellence» by the Research Council of Norway. At the moment he is in charge of the largest research group at the Birkeland Centre known as «Dynamics of the AsymmeriC Geospace», and also he currently supervises five PhD candidates. In 2019, Laundal was awarded a Starting Grant from the Trond Mohn Foundation for the project  «What shapes space?».

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It’s been a hectic but exciting Fall for Josephine when it comes to popular outreach of space physics; in the image below we see her in action during her participation in the prestigious Researcher’s Grand Prix event 2022 (an event she ultimately went on to win: “Josephine Salice – Winner of Researcher’s Grand Prix 2022“).

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During these days the Norwegian government is working on the state budget for next year, and in its current version, major cuts in the funding of space physics are proposed. In an attempt to reverse the proposed cuts, Centre Leader Nikolai Østgaard at BCSS has written a chronicle together with UiB-Rector Margareth Hagen, Dean Gunn Mangerud at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and Kjetil Ullaland, Institute Head at the Department of Physics and Technology. The chronicle highlight Norways central role in the international collaboration to explore space, as well as emphasize that with the proposed state budget, a new generation of scientists may miss the opportunity to achieve high-tech innovation and future discoveries which cound benefit all humans. The chronicle has been publised in both Bergens Tidende and Khrono (Note: Norwegian only).

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Space scientist Karl Magnus Laundal plays a key role in several international projects on how the Earth is connected to space. Among other things, the research can lead to a better understanding of the northern lights and phenomena that affect satellites and technology on the Earth’s surface. Read more in this article by the University of Bergen (UiB) entitled “Filling knowledge gaps about near space“.

Note: A Norwegian-translated version of this text has also been published by UiB: “Fyller kunnskapshull om det nære verdensrommet“.

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The ScienceNorway Researchers’ zone consists of opinions, blogs and popular science pieces written by researchers and scientists from or based in Norway. Now PhD Candidate Sara Gasparini has contributed to this research site, written about “The beauty of getting lost in the loss cone“. Also, a translated version (to Norwegian) may also be found, entitled “Den himmelske danserinnen!”

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After an unnerving and impressive competition among 10 PhD candidates, our own Josephine Salice became this year’s winner of the prestigious Researcher’s Grand Prix 2022. “When they (ref: judges) announced my name as the winner, I initially was surprised, and then I just became very happy, feeling a big smile spread across my face” Josephine says.

Researcher’s Grand Prix is a competition in how to perform public outreach, and in the first round each participant were given four minutes to excite the audience and the judges. Then their presentation was given a score by both the audience and the referees, and the three students with the highest points would advance to the final.

In her presentation during the first round, Josephine gave an insight into how the same processes that create the northern lights can affect climate. As shown by the image below, all judges loved her talk and gave her the top dice-score of 6 points each, cementing Josephine’s place as one of three contenders in the final.

Josephine followed up with another masterclass of public outreach in the final round, where she literally brought the audience up in space. Once again all three judges scored her performance with 6 points each, in which ultimately resulted in a well deserved victory.

As the winner of Researcher’s Grand Prix, Josephine received a trophy as well as 5000,- NOK. In addition to the great honour such a victory encompasses. “I want to thank everyone that cheered me on, and that supported me both before and during the competition. A special thanks to all the participants that made the experience truly memorable” Josephine says.

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