Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Bea Gallardo-Lacourt

(Research Associate)

Bea Gallardo-Lacourt's Contact Card & Information.
Email: bea.gallardolacourt@nasa.gov
Org Code: 675
Address:
NASA/GSFC
 Mail Code 675
 Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: CATHOLIC UNIV OF AMERICA

Brief Bio

Bea Gallardo-Lacourt has been working at NASA GSFC since 2019. She first joined NASA as an NPP fellow affiliated with Universities of Space Research Association (USRA), as a member of the Ionospheric-Thermospheric-Mesospheric (ITM) Laboratory (675). The overall theme of Bea’s research is the interaction of the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field that creates a dynamic plasma physics environment around our planet, one consequence of which is the aurora or northern lights. Fifty years ago, scientists used auroral observations to identify an explosive instability in near-Earth space they called substorm. The question of what causes the explosion, or “onset”, has emerged as one of the most intriguing challenges for our field. After five decades, this question remains unanswered. Bea’s research targets important aspects of this paradigm.


Additionally, Bea's research is centered on the Physics of the STEVE phenomenon. STEVE, an acronym for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, presents a captivating optical spectacle occurring in the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere. Recognizable by its distinctive appearance—a narrow white-mauve arc drifting westward and located closer to the equator than the auroral oval—STEVE has intrigued both the general public and the scientific community. Bea's research delves into understanding the formation of this phenomenon from the perspective of the magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere interaction, exploring its impacts within this interconnected system, elucidating its primary characteristics, and examining various related aspects. Bea is author and coauthor of over 30 publications on STEVE.

Education

Positions/Employment

Research Associate

Catholic University of America - Washington, DC/ Greenbelt, MD

April 2022 - Present

NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow

USRA - Greenbelt, Maryland

May 2019 - April 2022

Postdoctoral Scholar

University of Calgary - Calgary, Canada

March 2017 - May 2019

Postdoctoral Scolar

UCLA - Los Angeles

June 2016 - March 2017

Teaching Experience

  • Teaching Assistant, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, UCLA. September 2014-March 2014
  • Teaching Assistant, Physics laboratories of Mechanics and Thermodynamics, University of Santiago, Chile. 2004-2008
  • Teaching Assistant, Physics laboratories of Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Andres Bello University, Chile, 2004-2008
  • Teaching Assistant, Classical Mechanics, University of Santiago, Chile. 2006

Awards

2024: NASA Robert H. Goddard Award - Exceptional Achievement for Leadership

2020: NASA Heliophysics Division Peer Award in recognition and appreciation of superior performance of a special act, service, or achievement

2019: NASA Honor Award - Group Achievement Award STEVE science

2019: GSFC Honor Award - Science - STEVE/Aurorasaurus Team

2019: NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship

2016: UCLA Bosart Award: For Unselfish Service to Fellow Students

2015-2016: UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship

2015: UCLA Morris Neiburger Award: For Excellence in Graduate Teaching

2015: Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Reviews of Geophysics

2014: Outstanding Student Paper Award, AGU Fall Meeting 2014

2014: First place student Poster Award on Ionosphere-Thermosphere, CEDAR workshop

2010: AGU Fall Meeting Student travel grant (Graduate Student)

2009: AGU Fall Meeting Student travel grant (Undergraduate)

 

Professional Societies

American Geophysical Union

Chair of the SPA-Early Career Leadership Advisory Committee

2008 - Present

Japan Geoscience Union

2018 - Present

The National Society of Hispanics Physicists

Secretary

2022 - Present

European Geosciences Union

2023 - Present

Latinamerican Association of Space Geophysics (ALAGE)

2024 - Present

Professional Service

  • 2024 - Present: Member of the CEDAR Science Steering Committee (CSSC) - CEDAR/GEM Liaison
  • 2024 - Present: International Secretary of ALAGE (Lain American Association of Space Physics)
  • 2022 - Present: Chair of the AGU SPA Early Career Advisory Committee
  • 2022 - Present: Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) Ground-based Coordination Lead
  • 2022 - Present: Chair of the NSF funded GEM Focus Group: The Nightside Transition Region
  • 2022 - Present: Secretary of the National Society of Hispanic Physicists
  • 2022 - Present: Member of the AGU Honors Committee
  • 2021 - Present: STEVE Workshop organizer
  • 2020 - Present. Geospace editor - AGU Books
  • 2020 - Present: Associated Investigator of the PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) NASA Mission
  • 2018 - 2021: AGU Global Engagement Committee - North American Representative
  • 2020: Panelist at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from an International AGU Perspective: A Panel Discussion of a Global Issue from a non-US World View
  • 2020: How did I get here? Invited talk at STEM para Todas, a workshop to motivate young Peruvian girls into STEM careers, Virtual Presentation, February 2020

Special Experience

Experimental Experience


Magnetometer Installation

Installing two magnetometers of the SAMBA Project (South American Meridional B-field Array) in Antarctica bases Escudero and Bernardo O’Higgins. January 2013


Selected Press Coverage 


·      “STEVE and another aurora-like flows perplex scientists with their complex physics”—Science News, December 2023 

·      “How to find STEVE, the purple streak that looks like an aurora but isn’t”—Washington Post, April 2023

·      “Scientists Solve The Mystery of STEVE, And Find It’s So Much More Than An Aurora”—Forbes Magazine, 2019 

·      “Steve the odd ‘aurora’ revealed to be two sky shows in one”—National Geographic, 2019 

·      “It’s official: The Strange, Aurora-Like STEVE Is a Completely Unique Celestial Phenomenon”—Space, 2019 

·      “The aurora named STEVE is not an aurora”—Nature, 2018 

·      “The bright purple ribbon—named STEVE—is an entirely new celestial phenomenon”— Science Magazine, 2018 

·      “Scientists Are Puzzled By Mysterious Lights In The Sky. They Call Them STEVE”— NPR, 2018 

·      “STEVE the Aurora Isn’t An Aurora After All”—Discover Magazine, 2018 

·      “STEVE the Purple Beam of Light Is Not An Aurora After All”—Smithsonian Magazine

·      “New Kind of Aurora Is Not An Aurora At All”—AGU Newsroom, 2018 


Selected Publications

Refereed

2024. "First observations of continuum emission in dayside aurora." Annales Geophysicae [10.5194/egusphere-2024-3669] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Auroral and Magnetotail Dynamics During Quiet‐Time STEVE and SAID." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 129 (11): [10.1029/2024ja032941] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Unexpected STEVE Observations at High Latitude During Quiet Geomagnetic Conditions." Geophysical Research Letters 51 (19): [10.1029/2024gl110568] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Identifying the Magnetospheric Drivers of Giant Undulations: Global Modeling of the Evolving Inner Magnetosphere and Its Auroral Manifestations." Geophysical Research Letters 51 (16): [10.1029/2024gl110772] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Predicting Interplanetary Shock Occurrence for Solar Cycle 25: Opportunities and Challenges in Space Weather Research." Space Weather 22 (8): e2024SW003964 [10.1029/2024sw003964] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Solar Wind Drivers of Auroral Omega Bands." Geophysical Research Letters 51 (15): [10.1029/2024gl109756] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "The geomagnetic superstorm of 10 May 2024: Citizen science observations." Geoscience Communication [10.5194/egusphere-2024-2174] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Exploring the relationship between STEVE and SAID during three events observed by SuperDARN." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 11 [10.3389/fspas.2024.1422164] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "STEVE Events With FUV Emissions." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 129 (2): [10.1029/2023ja032017] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Mesoscale phenomena and their contribution to the global response: a focus on the magnetotail transition region and magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 10 [10.3389/fspas.2023.1151339] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Agile collaboration: Citizen science as a transdisciplinary approach to heliophysics." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 10 [10.3389/fspas.2023.1165254] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "High‐Latitude Ionospheric Electrodynamics During STEVE and Non‐STEVE Substorm Events." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 128 (4): [10.1029/2022ja030277] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "New Insight Into the Transition From a SAR Arc to STEVE." Geophysical Research Letters 50 (6): [10.1029/2022gl101205] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "AuroraX, PyAuroraX, and aurora-asi-lib: A user-friendly auroral all-sky imager analysis framework." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 9 [10.3389/fspas.2022.1009450] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Proton aurora and relativistic electron microbursts scattered by electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves." Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 9 [10.3389/fspas.2022.975123] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Rainbow of the Night: First Direct Observation of a SAR Arc Evolving Into STEVE." Geophysical Research Letters 49 (11): [10.1029/2022gl098511] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Polar Cap Boundary Identification Using Redline Optical Data and DMSP Satellite Particle Data." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 127 (5): [10.1029/2021ja030148] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Statistical Study of Magnetospheric Conditions for SAPS and SAID." Geophysical Research Letters 49 (9): [10.1029/2022gl098469] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Proton Aurora and Optical Emissions in the Subauroral Region." Space Science Reviews 217 (1): 10 [10.1007/s11214-020-00776-6] [Article in Book]

2020. "Physical Processes of Meso-Scale, Dynamic Auroral Forms." Space Science Reviews 216 (4): 46 [10.1007/s11214-020-00665-y] [Article in Book]

2019. "Optical Spectra and Emission Altitudes of Double‐Layer STEVE: A Case Study." Geophysical Research Letters 46 (23): 13630-13639 [10.1029/2019gl085639] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "First Observations From the TREx Spectrograph: The Optical Spectrum of STEVE and the Picket Fence Phenomena." Geophysical Research Letters 46 (13): 7207-7213 [10.1029/2019gl083272] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Magnetospheric Signatures of STEVE: Implications for the Magnetospheric Energy Source and Interhemispheric Conjugacy." Geophysical Research Letters 46 (11): 5637-5644 [10.1029/2019gl082460] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Storm Time Mesoscale Plasma Flows in the Nightside High‐Latitude Ionosphere: A Statistical Survey of Characteristics." Geophysical Research Letters 46 (8): 4079-4088 [10.1029/2018gl081539] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "How Did We Miss This? An Upper Atmospheric Discovery Named STEVE." Eos 100 [10.1029/2019eo117351] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "A Statistical Analysis of STEVE." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 123 (11): 9893-9905 [10.1029/2018ja025368] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Driving of strong nightside reconnection and geomagnetic activity by polar cap flows: Application to CME shocks and possibly other situations." Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 177 73-83 [10.1016/j.jastp.2017.09.013] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "On the Origin of STEVE: Particle Precipitation or Ionospheric Skyglow?." Geophysical Research Letters 45 (16): 7968-7973 [10.1029/2018gl078509] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Statistical Properties of Mesoscale Plasma Flows in the Nightside High-Latitude Ionosphere." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 123 (8): 6798-6820 [10.1029/2018ja025440] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Stormtime substorm onsets: occurrence and flow channel triggering." Earth, Planets and Space 70 (1): 81 [10.1186/s40623-018-0857-x] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "New science in plain sight: Citizen scientists lead to the discovery of optical structure in the upper atmosphere." Science Advances 4 (3): eaaq0030 [10.1126/sciadv.aaq0030] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Flow Shears at the Poleward Boundary of Omega Bands Observed During Conjunctions of Swarm and THEMIS ASI." Geophysical Research Letters 45 (3): 1218-1227 [10.1002/2017gl076485] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Influence of Auroral Streamers on Rapid Evolution of Ionospheric SAPS Flows." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 122 (12): 12,406-12,420 [10.1002/2017ja024198] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "The 17 March 2013 storm: Synergy of observations related to electric field modes and their ionospheric and magnetospheric Effects." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 121 (11): 10,880-10,897 [10.1002/2016ja023237] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Dynamics Related to Plasmasheet Flow Bursts as Revealed from the Aurora." Geophysical Monograph Series 95-113 [10.1002/9781118978719.ch8] [Article in Book]

2015. "Azimuthal flow bursts in the inner plasma sheet and possible connection with SAPS and plasma sheet earthward flow bursts." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 120 (6): 5009-5021 [10.1002/2015ja021023] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Ionospheric flow structures associated with auroral beading at substorm auroral onset." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 119 (11): 9150-9159 [10.1002/2014ja020298] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Coordinated SuperDARN THEMIS ASI observations of mesoscale flow bursts associated with auroral streamers." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 119 (1): 142-150 [10.1002/2013ja019245] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Westward traveling surges: Sliding along boundary arcs and distinction from onset arc brightening." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 118 (12): 7643-7653 [10.1002/2013ja019334] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "External triggering of substorms identified using modern optical versus geosynchronous particle data." Annales Geophysicae 30 (4): 667-673 [10.5194/angeo-30-667-2012] [Journal Article/Letter]

Talks, Presentations and Posters

Invited

Unraveling Unexpected Solar Wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling: A Case Study of Extreme Subauroral Ion Drifts When the Solar Wind Disappeared

August 2024

Invited presentation at COSPAR 2024, scientific session D3.2--Cross-scale Coupling and Multi-point Observations in the Solar Wind and Magnetosphere

Exploring the Prospects for a vivid collaborative science between the GDC mission and the ground-based community

November 2023

Prospects for a Vivid Collaborative Science Between the GDC mission and the Ground-based Community

September 2023

STEVE, a mysterious subauroral optical structure

2021

Invited presentation at the American Physical Society, Mid-Atlantic Section Meeting

Measuring the Subauroral Region: Links to Stan Sazykyn’s work

July 2021

1.     Invited talk at NSF-CEDAR workshop

Seminar at Dartmouth College: The physics behind STEVE, the optical subauroral phenomenon

March 9, 2021

Invited Seminar at Rice University: Tracking auroral optical structures

December 24, 2020

The Mysterious STEVE

May 2019

Invited Lecture, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Calgary, AB, Canada

Other

Selected Public Outreach

Presenter at STEM Para Todas, Space Day: “A Chilean in space sciences.”

November 2023 - Present

Peruvian immersion program in STEM for future female leaders.

Spanish interviews on the total lunar eclipse 2022

June 2022 - Present

Panelist at the GEM Student Career Panel

July 2022 - Present

NSF GEM Workshop, June 2022

Panelist at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from an International AGU Perspective

2020 - Present

A Panel Discussion of a Global Issue from a non-US World View

Live Coverage of the South American Eclipse

2020 - 2020

Basic concepts of Space Physics and the Aurora-Primary School Science Fair in Chile

December 2020 - December 2020

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center: Five-minutes thesis webinar on Space Weather

September 2020 - September 2020

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada: The Mysterious STEVE

May 2019 - May 2019

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