Recent Highlights

    The CFD group will organize a mini-workshop on Turbulence, Fluid and Magnetohydrodynamics

    A mini-workshop on Turbulence, Fluid and Magnetohydrodynamics will be hosted by the Computational Fluid Dynamics Group on the 7th of July, 2009. Our visitors, together with our colleagues, will present their recent works. Prof. Andrew Gilbert will discuss the mixing and quasi-modes in two-dimensional planar vortices. Prof. Charles Meneveau will talk about the challenges in the measurement and modelling of turbulence between wind turbine arrays in wind farms. Dr. Rosales Carlos will present a synthetic model for hydrodynamic turbulence. Check this link for the timetable and abstracts of the talks. Or contact Dr. Yi Li for information.(21-06-2009)

      The CFD group welcomes its visitors

      The CFD group welcomes its guests from around the world: Prof. Andrew Gilbert from the University of Exeter, Prof. Charles Meneveau from the Johns Hopkins University in the USA, and Dr. Carlos Rosales from the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria, Chile. Their expertise includes vortex dynamics, magnetohydrodynamics, turbulence theories and modelling. They will be at Sheffield from 6th to 8th of July. Please contact Dr. Yi Li for more information. (21-06-2009)

        Pioneering Insights into Giant Solar Twists

        twist
        An expanding solar magnetic structure sandwiched between the solar surface (photosphere) and its middle atmosphere (chromosphere).
        The puzzling and dramatic increase in the solar temperature from the visible surface of the Sun (photosphere) to well over a million degrees of the overlaying tenuous ubiquitously magnetised solar corona, has remained at the forefront of astrophysical research for over half a century. An international collaboration of solar physicists between the University of Sheffield, Queen's University Belfast and California State University (Northridge), have found unambiguous evidence for a new breed of wave phenomena under solar circumstances.

        Observations, based on some theoretical predictions and calculations led by Professor Robertus Erdelyi (Head of the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre, SP2RC, Dept of Applied Mathematics, Univeristy of Sheffield) were designed by scientists from Queen's University, Dr David Jess and Professor Mihalis Mathioudakis, and have been carried out by using the Swedish Solar Telescope in the Canary Islands, to detect for the first time purely magnetic waves in the Sun's lower atmosphere. The specific quest was to search for large-scale torsional magnetic oscillations in the turbulent and dynamic solar atmosphere. These unique magnetic oscillations, also called Alfven waves, are fundamental for the energy household of the solar atmosphere. Alfven waves may also crucially determine Space Weather, and offer the much-sought-after solution to the almost century-long problem of solar and stellar atmospheric heating.

        The detailed findings of this important discovery is published in the illustrious Science magazine on Friday, March 20th 2009. For a full account click here, or contact Prof. Robertus Erdelyi:

        New STFC studentship awarded to SP2RC

        An STFC funded PhD studentship is available at the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC) in one of the following areas: Magneto-seismology of the interior and atmosphere of the Sun, MHD wave theory, Heating of the solar atmosphere, and MHD turbulence. See this page for details. Useful information can be found on SP2RC group page. (14-03-2009)

          BIOMASS mission selected by ESA for next stage of development

          A space mission to measure the amount of carbon stored as woody material in the Earth's forests, proposed by Prof. Shaun Quegan and colleagues, has just been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to go to the next stage of development for launch in 2016. The key sensor on the BIOMASS mission is a long-wavelength radar which can measure both forest biomass and forest height. These measurements will go a long way towards reducing the present huge uncertainties in our knowledge of how tropical deforestation affects the carbon cycle, as well as giving unprecedented global maps showing how biomass is distributed in the world’s forests. The next two years will be devoted to reducing the technical and scientific risks of the mission. This will open up a range of exciting research opportunities as we move progressively towards making the mission a reality.

          Prof. Shaun Quegan was the co-lead proposer on the mission, coordinated the Report for Assessment, and presented the mission at the crucial selection meeting in Lisbon on 20-21 Jan 2009. See the website of CTCD for more information. (19-Feb-2009)

            Visitor from China to work with Prof. Quegan

            We welcome Dr. Jie Chen from Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics (Beihang University), China. He will work with Prof. Shaun Quegan in Sheffield on ionospheric effects on space radars that measure forest biomass and ionospheric electron densities. (16-Feb-2009)

              New MHD code developed in SP2RC

              Researchers in the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC) have developed new computer programs for solving Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) equations. Exploiting the hyperviscosity approach to stabilize the solution, the code has yielded satisfactory results in several standard tests. (19-May-2008)