PhD in Astrophysics

BACKGROUND: During a solar flare, the Sun suddenly releases bursts of radiation that disturb the Earth’s ionosphere. These disturbances change the behaviour of charged particles in ionospheric layers, causing absorption or distortion of radio signals used by the communication and navigation systems that modern society relies on every day. This interdisciplinary research aims to find out which types of solar flares affect the ionosphere the most, how the ionosphere reacts and recovers, and ultimately how we can better predict these space weather effects.