ÿþ<html> <head> <title>Toshi Nishimura, AOS, UCLA</title> </head> <a href="http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/">AOS department</a> <a href="http://www.ess.ucla.edu/">ESS department</a> <a href="http://www.physics.ucla.edu/">Physics department</a><br> <br> <br><br> <img src="./pictures/aurora2.jpg"><br><br> <img src="./pictures/aurora1.jpg"><br> Toshi under aurora. Photo by X. Xing and N. Ozak<br> <br> <br> -----------------------------------------------------------------<br> <!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <table border=0 cellpadding=1 width=80% cellspacing=0> <tr> <td><b>Name</b></td> <td>Yukioshi (Toshi) Nishimura</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Affiliation</b></td> <td>Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Job title</b></td> <td>Assistant Researcher</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Supervisor</b></td> <td>Professor Larry Lyons</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>E-mail</b></td> <td><img src="./pictures/email.jpg" align="center" width=180 height=15></td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Office</b></td> <td>Math and Sciences 7115</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Graduating high school</b></td> <td>Nagata High school, Kobe, Japan</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Graduating university</b></td> <td>Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan (adv. Prof. Takayuki Ono)</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Past postdoc job</b></td> <td>Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan (adv. Prof. Takashi Kikuchi)</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>UCLA (adv. Prof. Lyons)</td> </tr> <tr> <td><b>Hometown</b></td> <td>Kobe, Japan</td> </tr> </table> <br><br> <b>Paper and Presentation Lists</b>--><a href="./toshi_publication.html">Listed here</a> <br><br><br> -----------------------------------------------------------------<br> <!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <b>Research Topics</b><br> <LI>Auroral substorms using all-sky imagers<br> <table border=0 cellpadding=1 width=80% cellspacing=0> <tr> <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td> <td> Substorm is the most dynamic and specutacular phenomenon in auroral phenomena. While the phenonenology has been well documented, the time sequence leading to substorm onset has been a long-standing debate for more than 40 years in the space physics community. We found precursor of auroral substorms using the THEMIS all-sky imager network. The pre-onset sequence starts from the poleward boundary of the auroral oval leading to faint auroral streamers toward the equatorward boundary, suggesting enhanced earthward plasma flows in the magnetosphere. This result was selected as a <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/17dec_whenaurorascollide.htm">NASA press release</a><br><br> <img src="./pictures/substorm_nasa.jpg"><br><br> <img src="./pictures/20080229snapshots.jpg"><br><br> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <LI>Driver of pulsating aurora<br> <table border=0 cellpadding=1 width=60% cellspacing=0> <tr> <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td> <td> Pulsating auroras are beautiful emissions that blink in the atmosphere with a periodicity of 5 to 40 seconds. Earlier work in October, based on observations both from NASA's THEMIS spacecraft and from the ground, we solved the mystery of how the pulsating auroras were formed -- these spectacular light shows were driven by chorus waves observed deep in space. The lessons we are learning from this novel experimental technique is links aurora in the ionosphere to a location which is separated by over 40,000 km in the magnetosphere. This work was published in <a href='http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6000/81.abstract'>Science</a> and covered by <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101001-pulsating-northern-lights-aurorae-space-science/">News media</a><br> <img src="./pictures/pulsating_aurora_science.jpg"><br><br> <img src="./pictures/pulsating_aurora_schematic.jpg"><br><br> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <LI>Plasma convection in the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupled system<br> <table border=0 cellpadding=1 width=60% cellspacing=0> <tr> <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;</td> <td> Plasma convection is fundamental in energy transport in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. We are studying convection electric fields in space using spacecraft and radars to understand how electromagnetic energy is transported in the coupled system. </td> </tr> </table> <br> -----------------------------------------------------------------<br> <!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <b>Background</b><br> 1997/04-2000/03<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Nagata Highschool, Hyogo, Japan<br> 2000/04-2004/03<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Department of Astronomy and Geophisics, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University, Japan<br> 2004/04-2006/03<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University (Master course)<br> 2006/04-2009/03<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University (PhD course)<br> 2006/04-2009/03<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JSPS research fellow (DC1), Tohoku University<br> 2008/04-2009/03<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Research Student, STEL, Nagoya University<br> 2008/06-08<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Research Scholar, University of Minnesota<br> 2009/04-2011/09<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JSPS research fellow (SPD), STEL, Nagoya University<br> 2009/06-2010/04<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Visiting Scholar, University of California, Los Angeles<br> 2010/04-present<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Assistant Researcher, University of California, Los Angeles<br> <br><br> -----------------------------------------------------------------<br> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"> <!-- var pa = "http://stpp1.geophys.tohoku.ac.jp/~yukitoshi/cgi-bin/ds/dsw.cgi"; var pg = "UCLA_Etop"; var p = "g"; var cnt = ""; var a="&&"; var pf=navigator.platform; var lng=navigator.language; var swh=screen.width+"x"+screen.height; var cd=screen.colorDepth; var pd=screen.pixelDepth; var rf=document.referrer; document.write("<img src='"+pa+"?xx=",new Date().getSeconds(),a+"pg="+pg+a+"p="+p+a+"md=j"+a+"cnt="+cnt+a+"pf="+pf+a+ "lng="+lng+a+"swh="+swh+a+"cd="+cd+a+"pd="+pd+a+"rf="+rf+"' alt='' border='0' />"); // --> </script> <!-- <a href="http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/~toshi/index.html"> <img src="http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/~toshi/cgi-bin/ds/dsw.cgi?pg=UCLA_Etop&&p=g&&md=i" alt="" border="0" /> </a> // --> </body> </html>