Charged particles originating from the Sun constantly interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere. Some of them follow the geomagnetic field lines and end up in the ionosphere in the polar regions, where they deposit their energy. This process is called particle precipitation, and it leads to chemical changes in the atmosphere and fantastic auroral displays.
My research aims at improving the understanding of magnetosphere–ionosphere couplings through particle precipitation using state-of-the-art magnetospheric simulations and observations. I am also a strong advocate of citizen science, on which I have been relying to study the newly discovered auroral form named “dune aurora”.
After completing my doctoral training at the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory and the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (Toulouse, France), I graduated as a doctor in physics from the University of Oulu and the University of Toulouse in 2017. Since 2018, I have been a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki; I currently work as an Academy of Finland postdoctoral researcher in the same group.
Personal webpage: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/mgrandin/