Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Jeff Klenzing

(RESEARCH AST, FIELDS AND PARTICLES)

Jeff Klenzing's Contact Card & Information.
Email: jeff.klenzing@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.286.6172
Org Code: 675
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 675
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Brief Bio


 Dr. Klenzing’s research interests include ionospheric electrodynamics, Ionosphere-Thermosphere coupling, and measurement techniques for thermal plasmas and winds.

Current Projects


Driving the Ionosphere from Below: Effects of Planetary Waves and Ion-Neutral Coupling on Low-latitude Plasma Density Irregularities

Earth's Ionosphere

Dr. Klenzing is leading a Living With a Star project to analyze the effects of multi-day planetary waves on the growth rates of equatorial plasma bubbles, regions of dramatically decreased plasma in the low-latitude ionosphere. The climatology of the bubbles is well understood, but the weather (day-to-day variability) is not. To better understand this, NASA is partnering with the Naval Research Laboratory to examine the predicted variability in the instability growth rates using coupled state-of-the-art models to determine how assimilated weather patterns from the the lower thermosphere can drive the ionospheric instabilities hundreds of km above. The mesoscale (hundreds of km) density structures break down into turbulent structures meters in scale that can have a detrimental effect on communication and navigation signals.

This project supports Goddard 2040 Strategic Vision Vector 4 (Enhance Space Weather Knowledge and Applications). 


Geospace Dynamics Constellation -- MoSAIC Team Member

Earth's Ionosphere

The Modular Spectrometer for Atmosphere and Ionosphere Characterization (MoSAIC, PI: Mehdi Benna, 695/UMBC) is a compact and versatile mass spectrometer. It will provide the GDC mission with multi-point, concurrent measurements of neutral and ionized gas density, temperature, composition, and wind/drift. 

This project supports Goddard 2040 Strategic Vision Vector 1 (Advance Multidisciplinary Space Science) and Vector 4 (Enhance Space Weather Knowledge and Applications).


Space Precipitation Impacts

Earth's Thermosphere

Dr. Klenzing serves as the Impacts subgroup lead for the Space Precipitation Impacts group at Goddard Space Flight Center. This group examines the impact of energetic particles from the space environment on the Earth's Thermosphere and the resulting satellite drag.

This project supports Goddard 2040 Strategic Vision Vector 4 (Enhance Space Weather Knowledge and Applications). 


Resolving the Generation Mechanisms and Electrodynamical Effects of Medium Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (MSTIDs)

Space Weather

Group co-lead for the International Space Science Institute team to identify the open questions regarding and paths forward to understand Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances. These mesoscale (hundreds of km) ionospheric plasma structures can be produced by geomagnetic storm inputs into the high-latitude atmosphere, electromagnetic coupling between the E- and F-region ionosphere, and tropospheric storms (hurricanes, thunderstorms, etc) or other natural hazards (volcanos, tsunamis) driving from the troposphere via acoustic waves. These structures have a detrimental effect on radio wave propagation through the ionosphere. This is a group effort including researchers across the US, Europe, and Asia to plan future observational campaigns, improvements to physics-based models, and the observational requirements for future space-based and ground-based missions.

This project supports Goddard 2040 Strategic Vision Vector 1 (Advance Multidisciplinary Space Science) and Vector 4 (Enhance Space Weather Knowledge and Applications).

https://teams.issibern.ch/ionosphericdisturbances/


pysat

Dr. Klenzing is an active contributor to pysat, an open source community software package to access Heliophsyics data for scientific analysis, as well as provides tools for operational users to create data products with appropriate metadata. Pysat interfaces with multiple data providers, including the NASA Space Physics Data Facility and the CEDAR Madrigal database.

https://github.com/pysat/pysat

This project supports Goddard 2040 Strategic Vision Vector 1 (Advance Multidisciplinary Space Science).

Positions/Employment


Research Astrophysicist

NASA GSFC - Greenbelt, MD

April 2012 - Present


Postdoctoral Fellow

NASA Postdoctoral Program - Greenbelt, MD

May 2009 - April 2012

Education


Ph.D., Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2008
M.S., Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2005
B.S., Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2004

Professional Societies


American Geophysical Union

2004 - Present

Professional Service


Editorial Activities

  • Guest editor of special issue of Earth, Planets, Space - “16th International Symposium on Equatorial Aeronomy (ISEA-16), 2022” (2022-2023)
  • Guest editor of special issue of Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate - “Ionospheric plasma irregularities and their impact on radio systems” (2021-2022)
  • Guest editor and organizer of special issue of Annales Geophysicae - “C/NOFS results and Equatorial Ionospheric Dynamics” (2013-2014)


Conferences and Workshops

  • Science Organizing Committee - International Symposium on Equatorial Aeronomy, 2022
  • Organizing Committee - Geospace Discovery Science Workshop, 2021
  • Organizing Committee - C/NOFS and Equatorial Dynamics Technical Interchange, 2013
  • Organizing Committee - C/NOFS Science Workshop, 2010

Awards


Robert H Goddard Award, Exceptional Achievement for New Opportunities Captured GDC Instrument Proposal Teams, 2022


NASA, Group Achievement Award for the Ionospheric CONnection Explorer team, 2021


NRL, Alan Berman Research Publication Award, 2016


NASA, Group Achievement Award for the Firefly CubeSat team, 2014


NASA, Group Achievement Award for the FASTSAT Instrument development team, 2011


NASA, Postdoctoral Program Fellow, 2009-2012

Selected Publications


Refereed

2023. "The importance of recruitment and retention in Heliophysics: it’s not just a pipeline problem." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 10 [10.3389/fspas.2023.1216449] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Cross-Scale and Cross-Regime Coupling in the ITM: Studying Weather, not just Climate, in the Middle and Upper Atmosphere." Bulletin of the AAS 55 (3): [10.3847/25c2cfeb.041166a2] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Thermospheric temperature and ∑O/N 2 variations as observed by GOLD and compared to MSIS and WACCM‐X simulations during 2019‐2020 at deep solar minimum." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics [10.1029/2023ja031560] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "The pysat ecosystem." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 10 [10.3389/fspas.2023.1119775] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Using Application Usability Levels to support tracking the health of Heliophysics." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 10 [10.3389/fspas.2023.1144053] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Cultivating a culture of inclusivity in heliophysics." Frontiers in Physics 11 [10.3389/fphy.2023.1061683] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "A system science perspective of the drivers of equatorial plasma bubbles." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 9 [10.3389/fspas.2022.1064150] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "sami2py—Overview and applications." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 9 [10.3389/fspas.2022.1066480] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Next generation magnetic field measurements from low-earth orbit satellites enable enhanced space weather operations." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 9 [10.3389/fspas.2022.1076892] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Impacts of acoustic and gravity waves on the ionosphere." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 9 [10.3389/fspas.2022.1064152] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Growin: Modeling ionospheric instability growth rates." Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate 12 26 [10.1051/swsc/2022021] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Imaging Low-Energy Ion Outflow in the Auroral Zone." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 9 [10.3389/fspas.2022.809367] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Dual sounding rocket and C/NOFS satellite observations of DC electric fields and plasma density in the equatorial E and F region ionosphere at sunset." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics [10.1029/2021ja030191] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "The Vector Electric Field Investigation (VEFI) on the C/NOFS Satellite." Space Science Reviews 217 (8): 85 [10.1007/s11214-021-00859-y] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Evaluation of Atmospheric 3‐Day Waves as a Source of Day‐to‐Day Variation of the Ionospheric Longitudinal Structure." Geophysical Research Letters 48 (15): [10.1029/2021gl094877] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Addressing Gaps in Space Weather Operations and Understanding With Small Satellites." Space Weather 19 (3): [10.1029/2020sw002566] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Longitudinal Variation of Postsunset Plasma Depletions From the Global‐Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) Mission." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 126 (2): [10.1029/2020ja028510] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Daytime Dynamo Electrodynamics With Spiral Currents Driven by Strong Winds Revealed by Vapor Trails and Sounding Rocket Probes." Geophysical Research Letters 47 (15): [10.1029/2020gl088803] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "The petitSat Mission – Science Goals and Instrumentation." Advances in Space Research 66 (1): 107-115 [10.1016/j.asr.2019.12.013] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Application Usability Levels: A Framework for Tracking Project Product Progress." J. Space Weather Space Clim. 9 A34 [https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2019030] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Snakes on a Spaceship—An Overview of Python in Heliophysics." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 123 (12): 2018JA025877 [10.1029/2018ja025877] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "PYSAT: Python Satellite Data Analysis Toolkit." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 123 5271–5283 [10.1029/2018ja025297] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "VISIONS remote observations of a spatially-structured filamentary source of energetic neutral atoms near the polar cap boundary during an auroral substorm." Advances in Space Research 56 (10): 2097-2105 [10.1016/j.asr.2015.08.010] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "An update to the Horizontal Wind Model (HWM): The quiet time thermosphere." Earth and Space Science 2 (7): 301-319 [10.1002/2014ea000089] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Observations of the generation of eastward equatorial electric fields near dawn." ANNALES GEOPHYSICAE 32 1169-1175 [10.5194/angeo-32-1169-2014] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "C/NOFS results and equatorial ionospheric dynamics Preface." ANNALES GEOPHYSICAE 32 1303-1303 [10.5194/angeo-32-1303-2014] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Exploring the role of ionospheric drivers during the extreme solar minimum of 2008." Annales Geophysicae 31 2147-2156 [10.5194/angeo-31-2147-2013] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Equatorial ionosphere semiannual oscillation investigated from Schumann resonance measurements on board the C/NOFS satellite." Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres) 118 12,045-12,051 [10.1002/jgrd.50797] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Performance of the IRI-2007 model for equatorial topside ion density in the African sector for low and extremely low solar activity." Advances in Space Research 52 1780-1790 [10.1016/j.asr.2012.09.030] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "A study of intense ionospheric scintillation observed during a quiet day in the East African low latitude region." Radio Science 48 [10.1002/rds.20045] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Storm time meridional wind perturbations in the equatorial upper thermosphere." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 118 2756-2764 [10.1002/jgra.50299] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "A study of intense ionospheric scintillation observed during a quiet day in the East African low-latitude region." RADIO SCIENCE 48 396-405 [10.1002/rds.20045] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Using Schumann Resonance measurements for constraining the water abundance on the giant planets - implications for the Solar System formation." The Astrophysical Journal 750:85 [10.1088/0004-637X/750/1/85] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Three-dimensional numerical simulations of equatorial spread F: Results and observations in the Pacific sector." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 117 A03325 [10.1029/2011JA017077] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "A Review of Low Frequency Electromagnetic Wave Phenomena Related to Tropospheric-Ionospheric Coupling Mechanisms." Space Science Reviews 168 551-593 [10.1007/s11214-011-9854-0] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Detection of Ionospheric Alfven Resonator signatures in the equatorial ionosphere." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 117 [10.1029/2012JA017709] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "The fixed-bias Langmuir probe on the C/NOFS satellite: calibration and validation." Reviews of Scientific Instruments 83 114501 [10.1063/1.4766333] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Characteristics of low-latitude ionospheric depletions and enhancements during solar minimum." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 117 [10305-10.1029/2012JA017814] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Topside equatorial ionospheric density and composition during and after extreme solar minimum." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 116 [12330-10.1029/2011JA017213] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Observations of low-latitude plasma density enhancements and their associated plasma drifts." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 116 A09324 [10.1029/2011JA016711] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Science of opportunity: Heliophysics on the FASTSAT mission and STP-S26." 2011 Aerospace Conference [10.1109/aero.2011.5747235] [Proceedings]

2010. "Low‐latitude measurements of neutral thermospheric helium dominance near 400 km during extreme solar minimum." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 115 A11318 [10.1029/2010JA015325] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "A numerical study of geometry dependent errors in velocity, temperature, and density measurements from single grid planar retarding potential analyzers." Physics of Plasmas 17 082901 [10.1063/1.3457931] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Observations of DC electric fields in the low-latitude ionosphere and their variations with local time, longitude, and plasma density during extreme solar minimum." Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics) 115 [12324-10.1029/2010JA016023] [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "A statistical analysis of systematic errors in temperature and ram velocity estimates from satellite-borne retarding potential analyzers." Physics of Plasmas 16 052901 [10.1063/1.3125311] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Errors in ram velocity and temperature measurements inferred from satellite-borne retarding potential analyzers." Physics of Plasmas 15 062905 [10.1063/1.2936270] [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "A new satellite-borne neutral wind instrument for thermospheric diagnostics." Review of Scientific Instruments 78 114501 [10.1063/1.2813343] [Journal Article/Letter]

Non-Refereed

2011. "Multi-instrument observations of an MSTID over Arecibo Observatory." General Assembly and Scientific Symposium; 2011 XXXth URSI; AUG 2011 1-4 [Journal Article/Letter]