Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Aaron W Breneman (he/him)

(Rsch AST, Atmospheres and Ionospheres)

Aaron W Breneman (he/him)'s Contact Card & Information.
Email: aaron.w.breneman@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.286.7794
Org Code: 675
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 675
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Missions & Projects

Brief Bio


I've a Civil Servant Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. My research focuses on wave/particle interactions and the impacts of energetic electron precipitation on the ionosphere/atmosphere system using data from satellites, sounding rockets, and ground-based instrumentation. 

 

I received my Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2008, studying the propagation of chorus waves under Dr. Craig Kletzing. From 2008 until 2021 I was a Research Scientist at the University of Minnesota, and from 2011 until 2019 I was a member of the Van Allen Probes Electric Fields and Waves (EFW) team, providing data, analysis, calibration, and production of electric and magnetic field data. A large focus of this effort was spent on collaborations with other teams including the BARREL balloon missions.

 

Past projects include the study of lightning- and transmitter-generated whistler mode waves and their strong coupling to low altitude density irregularities, whistler mode waves in the solar wind, cyclotron harmonic waves at the bow shock, the large-scale coupling of different plasma regions in response to external solar wind driving and ultra-low frequency waves. 

 

Current Projects


Analysis of proton Bernstein waves in the sunlit polar cap on the Endurance sounding rocket


SPI: Space Precipitation Impacts medium energy group lead.

Analysis of POES and SAMPEX bounce loss cone data resolved by storm phase


Chapman conference on Particle Precipitation: Drivers, Properties, and Impacts on Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Magnetosphere (AIM) Coupling

Primary convener. Conference to be held in Melbourne, AU Feb 17-21, 2025


Quantifying the Size and Duration of Microburst-Producing Chorus Regions

Magnetospheres

Primary work done by Dr. Sadie Elliott, University of Minnesota



Imaging Microburst Precipitation with Atmospheric X-ray emissions (IMPAX) CubeSat Mission

CubeSat that combines an X-ray imager and particle detector to quantify microburst fluxes and properties

Positions/Employment


Civil Servant Scientist in the Ionospheric, Thermospheric, Mesospheric (ITM) Physics Laboratory

NASA GSFC - Greenbelt, MD

January 2021 - Present


Research Scientist, Department of Physics and Astronomy

University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, MN

August 2008 - January 2021

Education


Ph.D. in Physics, University of Iowa, 2008

Professional Societies


American Geophysical Union

member

2005 - Present


European Geosciences Union

member

2023 - Present

Professional Service


Editor, AOGS Geoscience Letters Solar and Terrestrial Sciences


Primary Convener for the AGU Chapman conference Particle Precipitation: Drivers, Properties, and Impacts on Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Magnetosphere (AIM) Coupling, Feb 17-21, 2025, Melbourne, AU

Awards


-NASA Group Achievement Award for the NASA Rocketship Endurance, 2022.

-2016 Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing - Geophys. Res. Lett.

-NASA Group Achievement Award for the Van Allen Probes, 2013.

-2002 AGU Outstanding Student Paper award




Publications


Refereed

2022. "The Van Allen Probes Electric Field and Waves Instrument: Science Results, Measurements, and Access to Data." Space Science Reviews 218 (8): 69 [10.1007/s11214-022-00934-y] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Science of the Van Allen Probes Science Operations Centers." Space Science Reviews 218 (8): 66 [10.1007/s11214-022-00919-x] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "The Effect of Compression Induced Chorus Waves on 10s to 100s eV Electron Precipitation." Geophysical Research Letters [10.1029/2022gl098842] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Quantifying the Size and Duration of a Microburst‐Producing Chorus Region on 5 December 2017." Geophysical Research Letters 49 (15): [10.1029/2022gl099655] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "ARTEMIS Observations of Plasma Waves in Laminar and Perturbed Interplanetary Shocks." The Astrophysical Journal 913 (2): 144 [10.3847/1538-4357/abf56a] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "The Rapid Variability of Wave Electric Fields Within and Near Quasiperpendicular Interplanetary Shock Ramps: STEREO Observations." The Astrophysical Journal 904 (174): 14 [Full Text] [10.3847/1538-4357/abbeec] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Driving of Outer Belt Electron Loss by Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure Structures: Analysis of Balloon and Satellite Data." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 125 (12): [10.1029/2020ja028097] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Why Are There so Few Reports of High‐Energy Electron Drift Resonances? Role of Radial Phase Space Density Gradients." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 125 (8): e2020JA027924 [10.1029/2020ja027924] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Lower hybrid frequency range waves generated by ion polarization drift due to electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves: analysis of an event observed by the Van Allen Probe B." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics [10.1002/2016ja022814] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Global-scale coherence modulation of radiation-belt electron loss from plasmaspheric hiss." Nature 523 (7559): 193-195 [10.1038/nature14515] [Journal Article/Letter]