Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Scott A Boardsen

(RESEARCH SCIENTIST)

Scott A Boardsen's Contact Card & Information.
Email: scott.a.boardsen@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.286.0837
Org Code: 674
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 674
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE CO

Brief Bio


Dr Boardsen studies plasma waves, plasma structures, and their interaction with particles in planetary magnetospheres. He has worked at GSFC since 1993. He received his PhD in physics from the University of Iowa in 1988.

He is currently working on RBSP (Van Allen Probes), C/NOFS, and MESSENGER missions. He also works with the SPDF. His current research topics are 1) coherent ~1 Hz waves found in Mercury's inner magnetosphere, 2) the characterizing the fine frequency structure and surveying of the fast mode between the proton and lower hybrid frequencies observed by RBSP, 3) relationship between waves observed by C/NOFS and RBSP and 4) plasma wave ray-tracing and path integrated gain analysis of waves in the planetary magnetospheres. He is working on improving the accessibility of data by the science community available from the SPDF.

One topic he focused on was the warm plasma ray-tracing of the ion-Bernstein mode in Mercury's inner (< 2 Mercury radii) magnetosphere in an environment that has large planetary proton loss cone distributions. He showed that the ~1 Hz harmonic waves observed in Mercury's inner magnetosphere are highly unstable to these proton loss cone distributions. He discovered that, through propagation, these waves can become highly compressional in ~0.1 proton beta environment, that an environment of ~2 proton beta is not needed for these waves to become highly compressional. He found the this mode cycles back and forth across the magnetic equator. For 1/2 of each cycle the waves experience strong growth with moderate compression and on the other 1/2 these waves experience strong compression with small growth or damping. Two types of propagation cycles where observed: 1) one where compression maximizes at the magnetic equator, and 2) the other where the compression maximizes off the magnetic equator. During the compression the group velocity drops and the wave energy piles up. He suggested that the later cycle explains why the compression is sometimes observed to maximize (straddle) off the magnetic equator. A dynamic spectrogram is shown along with the ray-tracing of the compression maximizing off (straddles) the magnetic equator. He reconciled the frequency shift between the observed and linear growth rate derived frequencies by proposing that the waves are anti-aligned with the bulk plasma flow velocity creating a Doppler shift, and showed that with this alignment the waves experience maximum growth while inside the magnetosphere.

Publications


Refereed

2013. "What Happened to the High-Energy (> 100 keV) Particles at Mercury?." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "MESSENGER Observations of Magnetopause Reconnection at Mercury (Invited)." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A3- [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "MESSENGER Observations of Plasmoid-type Flux Ropes in Mercury's Magnetotail." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts - [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "MESSENGER observations of dayside flux transfer events: Do they drive Mercury's substorm cycle? (Invited)." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 7- [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "A new three-dimensional magnetopause model with a support vector egression machine and a large database of multiple spacecraft bservations." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 118 2173-2184 [10.1002/jgra.50226] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "ULF wave modeling in Mercury's magnetosphere: Field-line resonance structures at Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A2165- [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "MESSENGER observations of magnetopause structure at Mercury." EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts 14 6363- [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "MESSENGER observations of dipolarization events in Mercury's magnetotail." EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts 14 3168- [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "MESSENGER Observations of Magnetotail Dynamics at Mercury." EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts 14 3817- [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "MESSENGER Observations of Magnetopause Reconnection and Its Effects on Mercury's Magnetosphere." EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts 14 3813- [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Coherent ULF waves in Mercury's nightside magnetosphere: Their source and impact." EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts 14 3194- [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Hot flow anomalies at Venus." JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS 117 [10.1029/2011JA017277] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Kinetic-scale magnetic turbulence and finite Larmor radius effects at Mercury." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 116 [9236-10.1029/2011JA016744] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Hot Flow Anomalies at Venus." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1995- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "MESSENGER observations of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at Mercury's magnetopause." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1604- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Distribution of ~1 Hz ULF Waves in Mercury's Inner Magnetosphere." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1603- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "MESSENGER observations of magnetopause structure at Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1601- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "MESSENGER observations of large-amplitude Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at Mercury's magnetopause." EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 844- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Formation and Transport of Flux Transfer Events at Mercury." EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 321- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "MESSENGER observations of ULF waves in Mercury's inner magnetosphere." EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 239- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "MESSENGER Observations of Flux Transfer Events at Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A6- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Kinetic-Scale Magnetic Fluctuations in the Near-Mercury Space Environment." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A2054- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "MESSENGER Observations and Kinetic Simulations of Quasi-Trapped Ion and Electron Populations at Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A10- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Structure of Mercury's magnetosphere during MESSENGER's first three months in orbit." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1599- [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Kinetic-scale magnetic turbulence and finite Larmor radius effects at Mercury." J Geophys Res 116 A09236 [doi:10.1029/2011JA016744] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Reconstruction of propagating Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices at Mercury's magnetopause." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 7- [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Observations of ion cyclotron waves in the solar wind near 0.3 AU." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 115 [12115-10.1029/2010JA015737] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Electron Transport and Energization in Mercury's Magnetosphere." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 1897- [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at Mercury: An assessment." Planetary and Space Science 58 1434-1441 [10.1016/j.pss.2010.06.008] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Terrestrial Myriametric Radio Burst Observed by IMAGE and Geotail Satellites." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 1734- [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "MESSENGER Plasma Wave Observations in Mercury's Magnetosphere." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 1805- [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Modeling of the magnetosphere of Mercury at the time of the first MESSENGER flyby ." Icarus 209 (1): 3-10 [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Mercury's magnetospheric magnetic field after the first two MESSENGER flybys." Icarus 209 (1): 23-39 [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "MESSENGER Observations of Magnetic Reconnection in Mercury's Magnetosphere." EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts 11 3847- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "MESSENGER Observations of Mercury's Magnetosphere." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts 3- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Comparison of Ultra-Low-Frequency Waves at Mercury under Northward and Southward IMF." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts A3- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Self-consistent Planetary Dipole and Paraboloidal Model Parameters Fitting by the Mercury's Magnetic Field after MESSENGER's First and Second Flybys." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts 4- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "A New 3D Asymmetric Magnetopause Model with New Consistent Magnetopause Crossing Database and Machine Learning Techniques." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1598- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Overview of magnetic field observations from MESSENGER’s third flyby of Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A3- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Ultra-Low-Frequency Wave Observations at Mercury during the 29 September 2009 MESSENGER Flyby." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1205- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "MHD modeling of the interaction of the magnetosphere of Mercury with the solar wind during the MESSENGER flybys." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A8- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Mercury’s atmosphere and magnetosphere: MESSENGER third flyby observations (Invited)." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1- [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "MESSENGER observations of Mercury's Dynamic Atmosphere and Magnetosphere." European Planetary Science Congress 2009 384- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Narrow-Band Ultra-Low-Frequency Wave Observations During the October 6, 2008, Flyby of Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A37- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "The Magnetic Field of Mercury: Insights After the First MESSENGER Flyby." Lunar and Planetary Institute Science Conference Abstracts 39 1363- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Narrow-Band Ultra-Low-Frequency Wave Observations During the October 6, 2008, Flyby of Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A37- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Ultra-low-frequency wave observations by MESSENGER during its January 2008 flyby through Mercury's magnetosphere." European Planetary Science Congress 2008 279- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "MESSENGER Observations of Mercury's Magnetopause: Structure and Dynamics." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts A1- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "MESSENGER Observations of Magnetic Reconnection and its Effects on Mercury's Magnetosphere." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A5- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "An Overview of MESSENGER's First Encounter with Mercury's Magnetosphere." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts A1- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Distribution of sodium pickup ions during MESSENGER's first and second Mercury flybys: constraints on exospheric models." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A43- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Ultra-Low Frequency Wave Observations by MESSENGER during its January 2008 flyby through Mercury's magnetosphere." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts A6- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Overview of magnetosphere and magnetic field observations from MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A4- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Narrow-Band Ultra-Low-Frequency Wave Observations During the October 6, 2008, Flyby of Mercury." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A37- [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Definition of Mercury Dipole Moment and its Offset Using the MESSENGER First Flyby data." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A2- [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Modeling of the Interaction Between the Induced Magnetosphere of Venus and the Solar Wind During the MESSENGER Flyby." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 7- [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Modeling of the Interaction Between the Induced Magnetosphere of Venus and the Solar Wind During the MESSENGER Flyby." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 7- [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "MESSENGER and Venus Express Observations of the Solar Wind Interaction with Venus: A Dual Spacecraft Study." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 6- [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Search for pick-up ion generated Na+ cyclotron waves at Mercury." Geophysical Research Letters 34 [22106-10.1029/2007GL031504] [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Search for Na+ Pickup Ion Generated Waves at Mercury." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts 1- [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Modeling of the Interaction Between the Induced Magnetosphere of Venus and the Solar Wind During the MESSENGER Flyby." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 7- [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Thermalization of Na+ Pickup Ions in Mercury's Magnetosheath and Magnetosphere via Hybrid Simulation." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 1410- [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Coherent Electromagnetic Waves Observed Upstream of the Venus Bow Shock Recorded by the MESSENGER Magnetometer Experiment." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 8- [Journal Article/Letter]

2006. "Examination of MARINER-10 Magnetic Field Data for Heavy Ion Signatures During the Mercury I and III Encounters by Mariner-10." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A309- [Journal Article/Letter]

2006. "Is the Linear Mode Conversion Theory viable for generating Kilometric Continuum?." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts 10- [Journal Article/Letter]

2006. "RPI/IMAGE Plasma and Magnetic Signatures of Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts A5- [Journal Article/Letter]

2006. "Auroral Kilometric Radiation Source Region Variations with Season and Solar Cycle." Planetary Radio Emissions VI 231- [Journal Article/Letter]

2005. "Role of Density Depletion Ducts on the Generation of Continuum Radiation." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 1178- [Journal Article/Letter]

2005. "Analysis of 'Christmas Tree' radiation patterns seen in Kilometric Continuum detected by RPI on the IMAGE spacecraft." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 1177- [Journal Article/Letter]

2005. "Correlative Study of High- and Low-Altitude Whistler Wave Observations and Radiation Belt Structure." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts A5- [Journal Article/Letter]

2005. "Low-energy neutral atom signatures of magnetopause motion in response to southward B-z." JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS 110 [10.1029/2004JA010626] [Journal Article/Letter]

2004. "Evolution of the Aurora during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A8- [Journal Article/Letter]

2004. "New Observations of the Non-Thermal Continuum Radiation at the Plasmapause." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A1197- [Journal Article/Letter]

2003. "Intensity Distribution of Plasmaspheric Hiss in the Plasmasphere." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 544- [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Small-scale field-aligned plasmaspheric density structures inferred from the Radio Plasma Imager on IMAGE." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 107 [1258-10.1029/2001JA009199] [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Characteristics of the Kilometric Continuum Source Region as Observed by the Radio Plasma Imager on IMAGE." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts A10- [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Correlations between AKR with Auroral Dynamics and Dipole Tilt Angle." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 628- [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Plasma Waves in the Plasmapause Region: Recent Results." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts - [Journal Article/Letter]

2001. "First results from the Radio Plasma Imager on IMAGE." Geophysical Research Letters 28 1167-1170 [10.1029/2000GL012398] [Journal Article/Letter]

2001. "A Virtual Principal Investigator for on Board Space Science Data Analysis." AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts 21- [Journal Article/Letter]

2001. "The association of kilometric continuum with plasmaspheric bite-outs: a multi-event study using IMAGE, GEOTAIL and WIND measurements." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A766- [Journal Article/Letter]

2001. "MPACT: Architecture and Design of a COTS Science Co-Processor for Space Science Missions." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts A840- [Journal Article/Letter]

2001. "Observations of neutral atoms from the solar wind." Journal of Geophysical Research 106 (A11): 24,893-24,906 [10.1029/2000JA000382] [Journal Article/Letter]

2000. "Radio Sounding in the Earth's Magnetosphere." Washington DC American Geophysical Union Geophysical Monograph Series 119 359- [Journal Article/Letter]

2000. "Radio plasma imager simulations and measurements." Space Science Reviews 91 361-389 [Journal Article/Letter]

2000. "An empirical model of the high-latitude magnetopause." Journal of Geophysical Research 105 23193-23220 [10.1029/1998JA000143] [Journal Article/Letter]

2000. "Configuration of high-latitude and high-altitude boundary layers." Journal of Geophysical Research 105 23221-23238 [10.1029/1999JA900269] [Journal Article/Letter]

1997. "Exterior and interior polar cusps: Observations from Hawkeye." Journal of Geophysical Research 102 11335-11348 [10.1029/97JA00743] [Journal Article/Letter]

1996. "Evidence of high-latitude reconnecting during northward IMF: Hawkeye observations." Geophysical Research Letters 23 583-586 [10.1029/95GL03083] [Journal Article/Letter]

1994. "Comparison between Liouville's theorem and observed latitudinal distributions of trapped ions in the plasmapause region." Journal of Geophysical Research 99 2191-2203 [10.1029/93JA02776] [Journal Article/Letter]

1992. "Funnel-shaped, low-frequency equatorial waves." Journal of Geophysical Research 97 [14967-10.1029/92JA00827] [Journal Article/Letter]

1990. "Double-peaked electrostatic ion cyclotron harmonic waves." Journal of Geophysical Research 95 10591-10598 [10.1029/JA095iA07p10591] [Journal Article/Letter]

1988. "Transverse ion energization and low-frequency plasma waves in the mid-altitude auroral zone: A case study." J. Geophys. Res. 93 (A10): 11,405-11,428 [10.1029/JA093iA10p11405] [Journal Article/Letter]