NEWS Doctoral student Eva Krämer went on a 12 week long research stay at the University Center in Svalbard (UNIS). The activity was partly funded by the Arctic Centre at Umeå University.
Eva Krämer is a Doctoral student at the Department of Physics, and between 11 September and 8 December 2023, she went to Svalbard to participate on a course, as well as working on her research project. The course was on polar magnetospheric substorms with scientific research making use of the local expertise and instrumentation. It lasted for 5 weeks, and the remaining time was used to work on her latest research project on magnetosheath jets, where she combines data from spacecraft with ground-based instrumentation, such as radars, magnetometers, and all-sky cameras.
This research stay was a unique opportunity to learn about ground-based instrumentation used in space physics and its relevance for the field.
Krämer expresses that the research stay had a lot of value for her as a researcher. Through the research project, she learned how to access and interpret data from ground-based instrumentation. She also mentions that the course on polar magnetospheric substorms gave her an introduction to the processes in the magnetosphere that cause aurora.
– This research stay was a unique opportunity to learn about ground-based instrumentation used in space physics and its relevance for the field. It was also a great chance to connect with other researchers, Krämer says.
When asked how her new knowledge can benefit the Arctic, Krämer mentions that the Arctic is a very important location for space physics, since it is highly affected by the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth magnetic field.
– Part of this interaction results in northern lights, but other effects are for example disturbances in radio communication and power blackouts. To be able to measure and understand these effects is vital to build sustainable human infrastructure at high latitudes. The course gave me an introduction to such effects, how they form and how we can measure them, Krämer explains.
