The objective of this proposal is to understand the dynamics of velocity shear in the earth S magnetosphere, and plasma transport and heating associated with vorticity and turbulence induced by…

This federal contract award was granted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center to the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), a nonprofit research and development organization based in San Antonio, Texas. The objective of the contract is to study the dynamics of velocity shear in the Earth's magnetosphere, and the associated plasma transport and heating processes related to vorticity and turbulence. The contract is a $210,685.80 grant for research, with a completion date of November 22, 2021. The contract does not have a set-aside designation.

SwRI has significant expertise in providing engineering, scientific, and technical services to government agencies, including NASA, the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Department of Defense. This award is part of NASA's Science and Exploration programs, and the research aims to improve understanding of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling and magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions.

The objective of this proposal is to understand the dynamics of velocity shear in the earth S magnetosphere, and plasma transport and heating associated with vorticity and turbulence induced by velocity shear. Velocity shear that triggers the onset of the kelvin-helmholtz instability (KHI) and generates flow vorticity is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the geospace environment, e.g., on the magnetopause, on the inner edge of the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL), and in the central plasma sheet. Flow vortices are an important element of turbulence, mediating the particle and heat transport and the energy conversion at earth environments. Kelvin-helmholtz vortices (KHVS) in the outer magnetosphere and near the magnetic reconnection and BBF/DF regions in the central plasma sheet may change large-scale magnetospheric flow patterns and the properties of magnetospheric regions such as plasma density and temperature via diffusive transport and turbulent dissipation. Yet our understanding of the influence and impacts of shear-driven vortices on the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling and on the magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction is at a primitive stage. We pursue to address the following questions: (Q1) how and how significantly do outer-boundary and central-magnetotail vortices affect solar wind transport and general flow patterns in the magnetosphere system? (Q2) how and how effectively does velocity shear driven turbulence in the outer boundary and the central magnetotail lead to plasma heating? (Q3) what are the roles of ION and electron-scale dynamics in velocity-shear-driven transport and heating? (Q4) how do turbulence, transport, and heating induced by flow vortices differ for southward VS. Northward IMF conditions and with/without high-speed solar-wind streams?