Prof. Michael Kosch

Unit: Science Research and Applications Position: Chief Scientist Qualifications:

Prof Mike Kosch was born and raised in Durban where he also achieved his BSc Electronic Engineering in 1984 and PhD in Space Physics in 1991 following a life-changing experience over-wintering at the SANAE Antarctic research station 1984-1986. He was based for over 2 decades in Europe, first as a postdoc and scientist at the Max-Planck Institute in Germany during the 1990s and then as a lecturer, professor of Experimental Space Science and faculty research Dean at Lancaster University in the UK during the 2000s. He has held research fellowships in Australia, twice Japan and twice USA as well as many research visits to Norway.

Since 2014, he is the chief scientist at SANSA in Hermanus, managing the Space Research and Applications group including the Space Weather Unit. He also co-directs EnviroVision Solutions, a spin-out company with >100 employees and international operations. His research has focussed mainly on auroral physics and the electrodynamics of the polar upper-atmosphere, primarily using night-vision optics and incoherent scatter radar, as well as experimental plasma physics using high-power radio waves beamed into the ionosphere as a natural laboratory. He has led many experiments at major international facilities, e.g. EISCAT in Scandinavia, HAARP in Alaska and Sura in Russia. To support the experimental research, he owns and operates 2 optical observatories in Norway and assembles bespoke optical instruments. He also has instrumentation located in Antarctica. He has published over 150 papers in international peer-reviewed journals.


Research Interests

  • Fundamental wave-plasma interactions (e.g. artificial auroras)
  • Long-term climate change (e.g. thermospheric density trend)
  • Auroral physics (e.g. black auroras)
  • Meso-scale dynamics (e.g. auroras and thermospheric winds)
  • Mesospheric physics (e.g. dusty plasmas, ozone destruction, sprites)
  • Radiation belt remediation (e.g. VLF cyclotron resonance)

Publications

For more publications of Professor Michael Kosch, Please see: Michael Kosch Publications

Title DOI Number Link
North-south asymmetry of the high-latitude thermospheric density:IMF By effect. Y. Yamazaki, M.J. Kosch and E.K. Sutton. 10.1002/2014GL062748
Geospace response to variable inputs from the lower atmosphere J. Oberheide, K. Shiokawa, S. Gurubaran, W.E. Ward, H. Fujiwara, M. Kosch, J.J. Makela, H. Takahashi. 10.1002/2014GL062748
North-south asymmetry of the high-latitude thermospheric density:IMF By effect. Y. Yamazaki, M.J. Kosch and E.K. Sutton. 10.1186/s40645-014-0031-4
The equatorial electrojet during geomagnetic storms. Y. Yamazaki and M.J. Kosch. 10.1002/2014JA020773
A comparison of overshoot modelling with observations of polar mesospheric summer echoes at radar frequencies 56 and 224 MHz. O. Havnes, H. Pinedo, C. LaHoz, A. Senior, T. Hartquist, M.T. Rietveld and M.J. Kosch. 10.1002/2014GL062748
The Science Case for the EISCAT_3D Radar I. McCrea, A. Aikio, L. Alfonsi, E. Belova, S. Buchert, M.Clilverd, N. Engler, B. Gustavsson, C. Heinselman, J. Kero, M. Kosch, H. Lamy, T. Leyser, Y. Ogawa, K. Oksavik, A. Pellinen-Wannberg, F. Pitout, M. Rapp, I. Stanislawska, and J. Vierinen. 10.1186/s40645-015-0051-8
The Science Case for the EISCAT_3D Radar I. McCrea, A. Aikio, L. Alfonsi, E. Belova, S. Buchert, M.Clilverd, N. Engler, B. Gustavsson, C. Heinselman, J. Kero, M. Kosch, H. Lamy, T. Leyser, Y. Ogawa, K. Oksavik, A. Pellinen-Wannberg, F. Pitout, M. Rapp, I. Stanislawska, and J. Vierinen. 10.1186/s40645-015-0051-8
Stimulated Brillouin scattering during electron gyro-harmonic heating at EISCAT. H. Fu, W.A. Scales, P.A. Bernhard, S.J. Briczinski, M.J. Kosch, A. Senior, M.T. Rietveld, T. Yeoman, and J.M. Rouhoniemi. 10.5194/angeo-33-983-2015
Evidence for stratospheric sudden warming effects on the upper thermosphere derived from satellite orbital decay data during 1967-2013. Y. Yamazaki, M.J. Kosch, and J.T. Emmert. 10.1002/2015GL065395
A model of high-latitude thermospheric density. Y. Yamazaki, M.J. Kosch, and E. Sutton. 10.1002/2015JA021371