Master's Thesis Project: Looking at Atmospheric Waves from Space
Do you want to write your master's thesis on a topic related to the MATS satellite? Here you can find some suggestions for potential projects.
In November 2022 the newest Swedish research satellite, MATS, was launched into space. Its scientific goals are to study dynamics in the upper atmosphere around 50-150 km height. This will be done by taking images of two phenomena called airglow and noctilucent clouds.
Airglow is a luminescent layer found around earth, and by looking at density variations in this layer we can determine the temperature and motion of the atmosphere.
Noctilucent clouds are ice cloud forming at 80 km altitude. These clouds are believed to be a key indicator of global climate change, and the data from MATS will help us to better understand the formation and microphysical properties of these clouds.
Who are you?
Master student at Stockholm university with a background in Meteorology, Physics, Mathematics or Computer Science.
Interested in learning about satellite data, optical instrumentation, and physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere.
Familiar with python or similar programming languages.
What will you do?
The first data from the satellite will start arriving in early 2023 and we are looking for students to help us explore these data! Some of the things you can help us investigate are
- How often can we see noctilucent clouds during the 2022/2023 season?
- Do the atmospheric temperatures we measure match what we expect from models? If not, what is the reason?
- How can we extract tropospheric cloud albedo and cloud heights from the instruments on MATS?
- How accurate are the MATS measurements? Can we make them better?
- Can we reduce the computational cost of data processing?
If you are interested in joining us, send an email to olemartin.christensen@misu.su.se.
Last updated: November 7, 2022
Source: MISU