News

Weekly Seminar

We'll always have an open seminar every Thursday from 10:30 AM - finish

Next week's presentations* (November 20th, 2025):

• Title TBA

Nonoka

*presenters may be changed without notice due to unforeseen circumstances

Please feel free to come and visit us* at :

W1-A-617-1, West 1 Building, 6th Floor, Ito Campus, Kyushu University (Opposite of Huixin-sensei's office)

*Please contact us beforehand if you wish to visit

News / Recent Events

Coverage of our recent work about the impact of Climate Change on Ionospheric Sporadic E layers (2025/11/17)

While global warming heats Earth's surface, the opposite occurs in space—the thermosphere and ionosphere are cooling. Prof. Huixin Liu, our resident PhD student Oki, and our ex-postdoc member Lihui investigated how doubling atmospheric CO₂ concentration (from 315 ppm to 667 ppm) affects sporadic E layers (Es), thin metal-ion layers that appear suddenly at 90-120 km altitude.

Using atmospheric climate models extending to 600 km altitude, the study revealed that elevated CO₂ levels cause Es layers to become stronger, occur at lower altitudes, and persist longer during nighttime. These changes result from atmospheric thinning and altered zonal wind patterns.

The findings have significant implications for shortwave and VHF communications, including aviation control, maritime operations, FM radio, television broadcasting, and emergency communications. Enhanced Es layers may increase signal interference and reception disruptions across these sectors. This research demonstrates that climate change extends beyond Earth's surface, affecting space communication environments and requiring long-term operational planning adjustments.

Official press release from Kyushu University can be found here. Our work also has recieved quite the attention from the public, as seen on Asahi Shinbun, Forbes Japan, Kyodo News Network, the press release on EurekAlert , The Brigherside of News , and  MUNDIARIO, a Spanish language outlet. 

Coverage of our recent work about impact of increasing greenhouse gases on geomagnetic storm effects in the future  (2025/08/25)

Recent work from Prof. Liu and Dr. Pedatella has revealed interesting results regarding how increasing CO2 would modulate the space weather impacts in the future. Their research revealed that geomagnetic storm impacts will become more severe for satellite users and operators, as the storm effects will be more dramatic in terms of relative changes. 

Published online in Geophysical Research Letters on May 30, 2025, this paper has received much attention from the public. Here are links from CNN,  Astronomy.com, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Kyushu University.

Continued coverage of our recent discovery of Es intensification caused by Geomagnetic Storm (2025/06/25)

Recent work from Prof. Liu and our Assistant Prof. Qiu has made a groundbreaking discovery regarding the enhancement of sporadic E (Es) layers during major geomagnetic storms. Their research revealed that Es layers, which can adversely affect shortwave communications, become significantly enhanced during geomagnetic disturbances.

Published online in Geophysical Research Letters on April 23, 2025, this study demonstrates the importance of space weather information for the safe operation of aviation control and maritime communication systems that use shortwave radio waves, as Es layer enhancements can disrupt normal communications. Summary of the work can be found here.

Not only featured in the Kyushu University press release, our work has also gained some attention on the web, with coverage from space.com and eurekalert.org, exposing our lab's research to the general public.

Visit of Dr. Yosuke Yamazaki (2025/01/30)

Dr. Yosuke Yamazaki (GFZ, Germany) who is on a short term visit until late February, gave us a talk on his recent work on Sq (solar quiet). If you have any questions about his work, or just wanted to know what it feels like to be a scientist (FYI, he's also a Kyushu University alumni), feel free to visit Dr. Yamazaki while he's here! 

Visit of Dr. Jia Yue (2025/01/20-2025/01/23)

On the week of January 20th, we got a brief visit from Dr. Jia Yue (NASA Goddard Flight Center, US) on an outreach mission by presenting to us his grueling work on the overall coupling of thermosphere and ionosphere. Later after presenting his work, some of us went jogging with him and Huixin-sensei to the beach for bottomless oysters!

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