MITHRAS 

Liemohn - Pulkkinen - Welling

Our team at the University of Michigan aims to identify and understand the underlying physics behind space weather phenomena. We do this by studying the dynamics of plasma and electromagnetic fields in various heliospheric and planetary systems using global space-weather models. Our team is comprised of three research groups which focus broadly on different regimes of Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere science: 

• Plasma transport in the ionosphere and magnetosphere of Earth and other planetary bodies (Liemohn)

• Sun-Earth interactions measured in-space and on-ground (Pulkkinen)

• Solar-wind driven space weather effects on the Earth system (Welling)

Research Approaches:

Numerical modeling: 

• Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) [Global Magnetosphere, Inner Magnetosphere, Ionosphere Electrodynamics modules]

• MHD and kinetic physics simulations

Satellite in-situ data analysis: 

• Near-Earth: Wind

• Sun-to-Earth: ACE 

• Planetary: MAVEN, Cassini-Huygens, JUNO 

Other Information:

Prof. Liemohn and Prof. Welling are among the team leading the MAAX mission proposal. MAAX is the Magnetosphere Auroral Asymmetry eXplorer, a pair of satellites equipped with ultraviolet cameras for creating images that completely cover the auroral ovals at each pole, in collaboration with the Southwest Research Institute and University of California, Berkeley.