Researcher Highlights
Between the sun and the earth

Supported by computational modelling and a handful of advanced data analysis strategies, Professor Colin Waters' insights into the inner workings of solar-terrestrial events are helping to safeguard several space-based assets and technologies.

Professor Colin Waters' research is – quite literally – out of this world. Probing the complex, and, at times, frenzied interactions between plasmas, the fourth state of matter, and planetary magnetospheres and ionospheres, it's also closer to home than one may think.

"I study naturally occurring phenomena from 120 kilometres altitude above the Earth's surface and beyond," the experimental physicist clarifies.

"Underneath that is the upper atmosphere, which is the realm of climate science, atmospheric chemistry, ionospheric physics and high frequency and radio communications."

"Beyond that is solar and space physics, astronomy and cosmology. Space physics requires knowledge of the behaviour of magnetised ionised gases (plasma) which overlaps with similar concepts in astrophysics and nuclear fusion research."

Simultaneously responsible for evaluating the impact of space weather on orbital vehicles and related infrastructure, Colin is a master at multitasking. Equal parts impressive and expansive, his work has important implications for understanding the universe and for practical, everyday life.

"The research has similar terms to forecasts provided by the Bureau of Meteorology," he shares.

"For example, wind speed in space science refers to the solar wind, and a storm warning means bright aurora and possible disruptions to satellite operations, communication systems and electricity supply networks."

"Information is sourced from both ground-based and spacecraft platforms."

Further than the eye can see

This illustrious research career began in 1990 when Colin undertook a PhD at the University of Newcastle. He developed a method to remote sense what is happening to the material in space, seeking to illustrate the dynamics of the near-Earth 'cold' plasma mass density reservoir.

"I created a 'cross phase' technique," the multiple-award winner explains.

"The method involves spectral analyses of data from two magnetometers located at the same longitude with a latitude spacing of ~150 kilometres."

"We custom-built the instruments so that they can sense very small magnetic field changes."

Instantly becoming of interest to the international space science community post-publication, Colin's method also greatly simplified previous data collection and processing.

"My 'cross phase' technique is now used by research groups in Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Japan, Europe and the United States," he affirms.

"The applications developed from this method have similarly been the focus of many symposia both here and abroad."

Made-to-measure

The University of Alberta's Canadian Network for Space Research took particular notice of Colin's PhD work, offering him a two-year postdoctoral position to tailor-make the method for their remote sensing instruments in 1993.

"Newcastle had three magnetometers in operation during my candidateship, but Alberta had seven or eight," he recalls.

"These ran down the centre of the country."

"We talked about extending into the United States, but at the time there was a lack of funding."

"Since then, based on results from the cross-phase method, the Americans and Canadians have extended the instrument array down through the USA and into South America."

"In addition, the Europeans have installed a similar array that runs from Scandinavia to Italy."

Returning home to Australia in 1994 to team up with the University of Newcastle's Head of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Colin sought to refine his method even further. Together with Professors Fred Menk and Brian Fraser, the ambitious academic succeeded in cementing a mechanistic understanding of the near-Earth space plasma environment.

"Here, on the surface, we have a gas you can breathe, but as you go further out into space the gas density decreases," he describes.

"About 100 kilometres from Earth the UV light from the Sun ionises this gas, which turns it into a very low density plasma."

"These charged particles feel a strong force in the Earth's magnetic field – much stronger than gravity."

"My 'cross phase' technique allows us to find out a lot of things about what is going on up there, such as what happens when you have large magnetic storms and solar flares."

Creative collaborations

Colin has since branched out from his original PhD portfolio, putting theory and experiment together in a number of different areas.

"Pure, basic science research using experimental data and numerical models enables us to understand what is happening in space," he divulges.

"We then build applications on top of this foundation."

The esteemed educator and investigator is currently working with the University of Minnesota's Professor Bob Lysak and University of Newcastle's Dr Murray Sciffer on a solar activity research project, for example, employing computer simulations to figure out how and why storms are able to energise 'killer electrons' that threaten spacecraft operations (e.g. GPS satellites) and generate large currents in the atmosphere.

"These then generate electric fields in the ground, which generate voltages in long, metal pipelines used for natural gas transport, enhancing corrosion," Colin states.

Colin is also teaming up with the Bureau of Meteorology's Space Weather Unit and the Australian Energy Marketing Operator to examine the impact of enhanced solar activity on electricity supply infrastructure.

"It drives geomagnetic-induced currents into the electricity grid," he says.

"In severe cases, these can damage expensive equipment at power and substations."

"Recently there have been reports of transformer failures in New Zealand and South Africa, which is getting alarmingly close to Australian latitudes."

The dynamic group is engaging in electricity grid modelling to "build knowledge" and "understand these risks," seeking to one day soon formulate and implement warning systems and mitigation procedures.

A related project focuses on the high latitude regions, where the aurora are seen, and space weather impacts on Earth's surface are more pronounced. Since 2000 Colin has been working with Dr Brian Anderson at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (USA), using low Earth orbit satellite data from the Iridium constellation, to map auroral currents and develop the capability to monitor energy deposition into the auroral zones and upper atmosphere.

Guide to the galaxy

At the same time, Colin is involved in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Testing the limits of 21^st century human engineering and scientific endeavour, the exciting extra-terrestrial radio telescope project is designed to operate over a wide range of frequencies and survey the sky more than ten thousand times faster than ever before. Its size will make it 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument.

"We've been informing the international SKA community of the difficulties in obtaining data," he says.

"If you're trying to image something very far away, temporal changes in the Earth's ionosphere will mess it up."

"It's like having a pair of glasses on that makes everything appear foggy, but worse than that, the 'fog' keeps changing with time."

"So we're trying to understand how big the problem is and figure out ways to minimise its impact."

To infinity and beyond

Space physics is a science where researchers observe the offerings of nature from a distance instead of up close and personally in a laboratory setting. The particles and fields being monitored are invisible to the naked eye. Nonetheless, Colin declares it's important for "everything we depend on."

"The discipline is relatively new, motivated by discoveries from space exploration since the late 1950s" he concedes.

"But the research is essential for GPS, satellite communications and the Internet."

Consequently believing Australia needs a say in space science research, the Director of the University's Centre for Space Physics is pushing for a new national frontier of "discovery and excitement."

"It would be wonderful if we had our own space agency," he muses.

"We're missing out on a lot of the excitement, student training, and technology spin-offs associated with space exploration."