Symposium in honor of Chuck Carlson encourages new research on data from legacy auroral missions
The Auroral Acceleration Symposium in Honor of Charles W. (Chuck) Carlson wrapped up on Thursday, April 10th. The event held at UC Berkeley’s Faculty Club attracted some 65 participants and included 24 talks on topics focusing on satellite and rocket investigations of the aurora including the latest findings and opportunities for further research.
The symposium was organized by Robert F Pfaff, space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Christopher Chaston, research physicist at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL), and John W. Bonnell, project physicist at SSL.
“It was an excellent event with a great vibe. It felt more like a family reunion than a scientific conference,” said Bonnell.
Chuck’s legacy
The family dynamic was apparent as the symposium commenced on Tuesday, April 8th. Amid frequent bursts of laughter and asides from seasoned scientists in the audience, several former colleagues related anecdotes from their collaborations with Carlson. James McFadden, associate research physicist at SSL, and Robert Ergun, professor in the Department Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at CU Boulder, discussed Carlson’s legacy as principal investigator on NASA’s Fast Auroral SnapshoT (FAST) mission, which provided rapid, high-resolution data samples of auroral arcs.
McFadden and Ergun described Carlson’s invention of the “top-hat” electrostatic analyzer, now routinely used to measure energetic ion and electron fluxes in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. The top-hat analyzer, among other instruments included on the FAST mission, allowed scientists to locate and understand the so-called auroral acceleration region above the ionosphere where ions and electrons are accelerated thereby producing visible aurora.
“FAST really was Chuck’s creation, and auroral acceleration science is Chuck’s legacy,” said Ergun.
Additional talks expanded on Carlson’s legacy. Forrest S. Mozer, Professor Emeritus of the Physics Department, research physicist at SSL, and deputy principal investigator on FAST, described Carlson’s contributions to the first measurements of large parallel electric fields in the auroral acceleration region by the S3-3 satellite. Robert Strangeway, research geophysicist at UCLA, described how FAST data helped reveal the interaction between the ionosphere and magnetosphere (so called M-I coupling).
The remembrances continued at a dinner held at the Clark Kerr Dining Commons that evening. Mozer and McFadden spoke of Carlson, and Bonnell presented a gift to Carlson’s wife Gretchen—a framed page from the original NASA proposal for the FAST mission submitted by Carlson in 1988 and signed by members of the FAST mission in attendance.
Latest research and future collaboration
Wednesday’s talks focused on new opportunities to gather data and the latest auroral research by early and mid-career scientists.
David Miles, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa, discussed upcoming opportunities for further auroral research. Miles is principal investigator on NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) Mission. TRACERS consists of two satellites flown in the same orbit, one behind the other, that will study the magnetopause (the boundary between the magnetosphere and the solar wind) and the cusp (the funnel-shaped polar area of the magnetosphere). The TRACERS mission aims to help us better understand how the solar wind couples into the Earth’s magnetic field, driving auroras and space weather.
One of the early-career auroral scientists who spoke on Wednesday was L. Claire Gasque, assistant researcher at SSL. She described her research into a little-described auroral-like phenomenon. Auroras like those investigated by Carlson, occur when energetic particles in the magnetosphere are accelerated into the ionosphere. Gasque described an auroral-like phenomenon in which electrons already in the ionosphere are energized by low-altitude parallel electric fields. According to Gasque, the idea is still very new and not yet generally accepted.
“People I talk to at the symposium say the theories they developed while working with FAST data weren’t accepted at first either, so the research got a warmer reception than I was expecting.” said Gasque.
Gasque volunteered to speak at the conference in hopes of making connections with people who worked with FAST data and might have ideas about how she could use it in her own research. Sentiments like that were one of the main motivations for organizing the conference, according to Bonnell. He said that the FAST mission was launched before NASA developed methods for high-resolution data gathered on satellites to be easily organized and disseminated within the larger scientific community.
“There’s tens of thousands of orbits-worth of absolutely glorious data that haven’t been mined, and the way to get at it is rapidly being lost,” said Bonnell.
Bonnell hopes that some of the lore known primarily to members of the FAST mission will be passed down to the next generation. With that goal in mind, the symposium closed Thursday with a half-day workshop on how to access, display, and work with FAST data. According to the organizers, this passing of the torch from late to early-career scientists as well as the sharing of research and dialogue on unresolved questions was a great success that maintained the legacy of Carlson’s FAST mission.
“FAST was a game-changer, not just for the science and unprecedented measurements but in terms of learning how to bring different institutions and instruments together as one investigative team,” said Pfaff.
Audience at auroral symposium 
Audience at auroral symposium 
David Miles, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa speaks at auroral symposium 
Robert F Pfaff, space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) speaks at auroral symposium 
Sheng Tian, Assistant Researcher, Atomspheric and Ocean Sciences, UCLA speaks at auroral symposium 
Audience at auroral symposium 
Robert Ergun, professor in the Department Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at CU Boulder speaks at auroral symposium 
Bill Lotko, casual senior research associate at the High-Altitude Observatory speaks at auroral symposium 
Niloufar Nowrouzi, Research Scientist, Boston University speaks at auroral symposium
Full list of presentations:
April 8th:
James McFadden, associate research physicist at SSL: FAST and the Path to Discovery
Robert Ergun, professor in the Department Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at CU Boulder: Exploring the Aurora from Sounding Rockets to FAST: The Legacy of Chuck Carlson
Bill Lotko, casual senior research associate at the High-Altitude Observatory: M-I Coupling and Auroral Acceleration | Outstanding Issues and Research Directions
Robert Strangeway, research geophysicist at UCLA: Legacy of the Fast Auroral Snapshot Small Explorer: Insights into Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling
Forrest S. Mozer, Professor Emeritus of the Physics Department and research physicist at SSL: The discovery of large parallel electric fields in the auroral acceleration region
Octav Marghitu, academic researcher at the Institute of Space Science in Romania: Auroral Electrodynamics on Arc and Oval Scales
Robert F Pfaff, space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center: FAST Observations of Acceleration Processes in the Cusp
Stephen Mende, research physicist at SSL: Optical signatures of auroral events observed by FAST
April 9th:
John Dombeck, senior researcher at Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics: Determination of Concurrent Auroral Electron Precipitation Flux by Mechanism and the AIMSES Expected Electron Precipitation Spectra Tool
L. Claire Gasque, assistant researcher at SSL: Aurora-like Emissions Driven by Local Ionospheric Parallel Electric Fields
Niloufar Nowrouzi, Research Scientist, Boston University: Scientific Publications Following FAST/TEAMS Data Recalibration
E. J. Lund, Research Scientist, Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire: Recalibration of Ion Composition Data from Fast Auroral SnapshoT (FAST)
Sheng Tian, Assistant Researcher, Atomspheric and Ocean Sciences, UCLA: Observations of Significant Ion Energy Outflows Associated with Cusp Ion Outflows and the Role of Poynting Flux as an Energy Source
George Parks, senior research physicist at SSL: Characteristics of Inverted-Ion beams observed in H+, He+ and O+ by Cluster at ~3.5 RE
Robert Lysak, professor of physics and astronomy at University of Minnesota: How FAST Has Helped Us Understand Jupiter’s Aurora
Robert Strangeway, research geophysicist at UCLA: On the Role of Displacement Current in Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling
Michael Temerin, UC Berkeley, retired: From Flickering Aurora to Fictional Helium Three (He3) Mining on the Moon
David Miles, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa: The Tracers Mission
Robert F Pfaff, space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC): A Complete Unknown — DE-2 Electric and Magnetic Field Observations of Auroral Flows and Alfven Waves
Kenton Greene, postdoctoral researcher at SSL: Drivers of Small-Scale Structure in the Aurora: A Rocket-Based Study
James McFadden, associate research physicist at SSL: How Collaboration with Chuck Helped Me Design MAVEN STATIC
Edgar Bering, professor of physics at University of Huston: An Industrial Application of Auroral Acceleration Processes
Aaron Breneman, Space Scientist, NASA GSFC: Novel Bernstein waves observed in the polar cap on the Endurance sounding rocket
Katherine Goodrich, assistant professor of space physics at West Virginia University: Future Opportunities/Proposals to Observe the AAR
