Permanent staff:
This topic addresses the Earth's upper atmosphere and magnetosphere. The Aurora is a well-known phenomenon in the Earth's boundary with interplanetary space. Conditions and processes here are closely tied to those of the Sun via radiation and charged-particle flows.
The University of Tromsø participates in the international EISCAT project and therefore enjoys access to the radar installation at Ramfjordmoen for research of the upper-atmosphere. In a couple of years, a similar radar will be running on Spitzbergen. In addition, observations are made using magnetometers and optical instruments.
The upper atmosphere is partly ionised (the ionosphere) and therefore atmospheric physics is closely related to plasma-physics. The EISCAT radar can also be used to study plasma phenomena, a special topic here being the study of charged dust particles.
Post-graduate studies may be either theoretical or more practical and based on either existing data or by making own observations. Instrumentation in itself is also a possibility.
Undergraduate pre-requisites can include several of: Fys-200, Fys-210, Fys-220, AFys-260, AFys-261 and Fys-280, but other courses may also be suitable, depending on the project being undertaken. Post-graduate courses and reading-lists are not fixed.
Here are some pointers to related WWW pages:
