The Research Council of Norway is providing funds for nineteen research projects with the potential for groundbreaking results.
Exploring the complexity of the solar corona
The Research Council highlights the importance of the project in their press release: The Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, is a glowing dance of hot plasma that impacts both satellites and communication here on Earth. New super-realistic simulations show that the corona is far from tidy and simple; it is actually a tangle of turbulent structures of all sizes. A researcher early in their career at RoCS—Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics—receives 10 million NOK to weave together models at different scales and combine them with sharp images from a space probe. The goal is to reveal how the Sun's energy waves and streams of matter truly behave—and to provide better warnings for space weather that can disrupt technology on Earth.
- We aim to connect two numerical models of the solar atmosphere designed to capture different spatial scales,” explains Kohutova to Gina Aakre at Titan.uio.no.
The observations for this research come from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft.
- Understanding the structure of the solar corona is crucial for predicting the effects of solar activity on Earth, known as space weather. Space weather can disrupt satellites, power grids, and communication systems. After starting my research career by developing models for space weather forecasting at the UK Met Office, I am excited to work on enhancing our understanding of the solar corona. The solar corona is the primary driver of space weather events, adds Kohutova.
Kohutova receives support under the early career scheme by the Research Council of Norway.