Research Projects

Space weather changes when solar disturbances (like solar flare, interplanetary coronal mass ejections or ICME, Solar energetic particles) or interplanetary disturbances (like corotation interaction region or CIR) travel through the interplanetary medium and hit the terrestrial magnetosphere and ionosphere. During space weather events, radiation, energetic particles and electric field perturbations affect the near-earth geo-space. During geomagnetic storm under the influence of southward interplanetary magnetic field, the global magnetosphere and ionosphere undergo drastic changes. This alter the neutral and plasma dynamics, changes neutral composition and wind patterns and also generates plasma irregularities in the uppermost plasma layers of the earth. In addition, violent reorganization of the nightside magnetosphere also release enormous energy into the magnetosphereionosphere system. This is known as substorm. The relationship between storms and substorms, the impact of these processes on the near earth geospace are a few important research topics that need critical attention. These scientific issues are also pertinent in the context of navigational and other technological applications in space.