Skip to main content
GFZ logo

Space Weather

MIPT job center

Research Unit (Forschungsgruppe) of Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Magnetosphere, Ionosphere, Plasmasphere, Thermosphere as a Coupled System (MIPT).

The overarching science objective of the research unit is to better understand how the magnetosphere, ionosphere, plasmasphere, and thermosphere are coupled to each other. The complexity of this system, which covers altitudes from tens to tens of thousands of km and time scales from minutes to decades, requires an interdisciplinary team with specialists in different domains, expertise in modeling and observations, as well as established collaborative ties to the international community.

The Research Unit is planned for 4 years with a possible extension for another 4 years. We offer 6 (postdoc/PhD) positions, one for each project of the Research Unit at 5 Institutions:

  • German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ),
  • University of Bonn (Uni Bonn)
  • Technische Universität München (TUM),
  • Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) and
  • German Aerospace Center (DLR).

1. Observed change in the thermosphere and TI-coupling

2. Modeling and forecasting of the Electron Density distribution within the Ionosphere

3. Topside ionospheric and plasmaspheric dynamics from observations, machine learning and physics-based modeling

4. Understanding the acceleration of the radiation belt electrons to ultra-relativistic energies and its dependence on the plasma density

5. Energy deposition from the magnetotail into the ionosphere/thermosphere

6. Electron seed population and its impact on the ring current, ionosphere/thermosphere dynamics