Solar-Terrestrial Sciences

citizen science

Newly released: Aurora Handbook and Field Guide for citizen science studies in view of the upcoming SolarMaX campaign

Maxime Grandin, Katie Herlingshaw, and Bea Gallardo-Lacourt November 11, 2024

Given the recent surge in solar and geomagnetic activity, spectacular auroral displays have been visible down to the mid-latitudes several times since the beginning of 2024. But it is not always so easy to know when to go out, where to look, and how to take good pictures of the aurora. And what if the observations collected by seasoned and first-time aurora chasers could help in advancing the scie ...[Read More]

New auroral dunes discovered through citizen science

Maxime Grandin and Minna Palmroth April 14, 2020

Two simultaneous pictures of the dunes on 7 October 2018 from (a) Laitila (by Pirjo Koski) and (b) Ruovesi (by Rami Valonen), where six fingertips were identified to determine their altitude. © Palmroth et al. (2020) / CC BY 4.0

The region of the Earth’s atmosphere lying at altitudes between about 80 and 120 km, corresponding to the mesosphere–lower thermosphere–ionosphere (MLTI), is often referred to as the “ignorosphere”, because its observation is so challenging that only a handful of measurements of its composition, temperature and other physical parameters have been obtained over the last few decades. It is, however, ...[Read More]