UROP

Every year many undergraduate students undertake research placements in the SPAT group, making invaluable contributions. We are always looking to engage UG students in our research, and these pages provide more information about how you can get involved.

UROP projects 2023

 The following projects are being offered for summer 2023. Please contact the relevant staff with a CV and brief (no more than a paragraph) statement about your interest in the project.

Long-term trends in magnetometer parameters - Chris Carr

Closing date: 13th March

The European Space Agency’s four-spacecraft ‘Cluster’ mission has been in orbit since the year 2000 and as Imperial is the lead institution for the magnetometer instruments we have accumulated the equivalent of 88 years-worth of orbit-by-orbit parameters which characterise the performance of the sensors. Over this time, certain periodicities are revealed, which may be linked to orbit, temperature, or other external factors. This project will seek to characterise this behaviour, with the aim of improving our knowledge about the overall accuracy of the instruments and seeking to simplify the in-flight calibration processes for the final few years of the mission, which is expected to operate until 2025. 

 

Modelling magnetic fields in the toroidal cores of fluxgate sensors - Chris Carr

Closing date: 13th March

Fluxgate sensors measure the magnetic field vector by modulating the components of the vector using a magnetically-saturable toroid of high-permeability alloy. This project will make a first-principles model of the fields generated through this technique, to check and validate the hypothesis that the flux in the core-saturation state remains constrained within the core (thus avoiding crosstalk between components). If possible, we will link the behaviour to a simplified SPICE model of the fluxgate electronics. Consequently, students would ideally have some experience in electronics simulation e.g., through having taken the Advanced Electronics course. 

 

Locating contrails in multi-camera imagery - Edward Gryspeerdt

Closing date: 5th March

The warming effect of contrails on the climate is over half the total climate impact of aviation, but their properties and evolution are poorly understood from observations, hampering modelling efforts. In this project, you will use multiple new ground-based cameras to locate contrails in 3D, tracking their vertical development. This will provide new constraints on the behaviour of the only man-made cloud type. 

 

Satellite studies of cloud physics - Edward Gryspeerdt

Closing date: 5th March

Previous UROP projects in SPAT

Project TitleStudentSupervisor
Analysis of magnetic field data from the RadCube CubeSat Cara WATERS Dr Jonathan EASTWOOD
"I'm a Space Person" Careers Postcards Cara WATERS Dr Martin ARCHER
Improving observations of cloud properties      Andrew NICOLL   Dr Edward GRYSPEERDT 
High-Resolution Spectroscopy for Astrophysics Applications Shiyun LIU Dr Christian CLEAR
IMAP Fluxgate Magnetometer development Joaquim PACHECO DICKSON Prof Timothy HORBURY
The role of clouds for uncertainties in climate sensitivity Thomas COWPERTHWAITE Dr Paulo CEPPI
Using statistical learning methods to quantify the relationship between global warming and clouds Zhenghe XUAN Dr Paulo CEPPI
Investigating the role of clouds for climate change projections Maryam AHMED Dr Paulo CEPPI
Investigating the impact of trends in diurnal surface temperature on the Earth’s outgoing longwave radiation Trystan COVENEY Prof Helen BRINDLEY
Investigating the potential for night-time energy generation Fei YANG Prof Helen BRINDLEY
Using Multipoint Measurements to Examine Magnetic Reconnection in Earth’s Turbulent Magnetosheath Clarisse BONACINA Dr Julia STAWARZ

 

 

Project TitleStudentSupervisor
"I'm a Space Person" Careers Postcards Shafiat DEWAN Dr Martin ARCHER/Dr Simon FOSTER
"I'm a Space Person" Careers Postcards Cara WATERS Dr Martin ARCHER/Dr Simon FOSTER
Developing new sonification techniques for ultra-low frequency space plasma waves Marek COTTINGHAM Dr Martin ARCHER
Satellite measurements of power station pollution Manuel LOURO COELHO Dr Edward GRYSPEERDT
Analysing large-scale numerical simulations of plasma turbulence Matthew ACEVSKI Dr Julia STAWARZ
Historical and future changes in the coupled terrestrial carbon and water cycles as predicted by CMIP6 models Ines JIMENEZ Dr Heather GRAVEN
High Resolution Spectroscopy for Astrophysics Daniel GIBSON Dr Christian CLEAR
Forecasting Radiation for the Lunar Gateway Aaron THOMAS Dr Ravindra DESAI
Machine Learning applied to Wildfires in Climate Change Philippe LE GOUZ de SAINT-SEINE Dr Matthew KASOAR
Indian Ocean Dipole's effect on Northern Australian Wildfires Emir SEZIK Dr Matthew KASOAR
Assessing the role of surface warming patterns for furture jet stream changes Iakov BRILLIANT/Alice HOPKINS Dr Paulo CEPPI
Searching for methane super-emitters using TROPOMI satellite retrievals Zanxu WANG Dr Heather GRAVEN

 

UROP students 2020
Project TitleStudentSupervisor
 Detecting drift orbit birfurcations using simulations and MMS data  Benyam DEJEN Dr Paulo CEPPI
 Forecasting radiation in the Earth's magnetosphere  Luana WILLIAMS Dr Ravindra DESAI
 Energy deposition in the upper atmosphere of Saturn  Xinmiao (Anna) HU Professor Marina GALAND
Using a neural network to understand Titan's atmospheric chemistry George KORODIMOS Dr Ravindra DESAI
Sun-to-earth simulations of flux-ropoe corona mass ejections Visakan BALAKUMAR Dr Ravindra DESAI
Examining electron vortices in Earth's magnetotail using the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Madalina TUDORACHE Dr Julia STAWARZ
Propogating solar energetic particles in the outer heliosphere  Xinni WU Dr Ravindra DESAI
Shocks in the inner heliosphere Samuel BENNETT Dr Heli HIETALA
Global simulations of dayside magnetospheric transients and their impacts Nicholas RAYNS Dr Heli HIETALA
Future changes in carbon isotopes in the terrestrial biosphere Leonardo BOSSI Dr Heather GRAVEN
Comparison of observed wind speed and direction across London Emir SEZIK Dr Heather GRAVEN
Future changes in ocean carbon-13 Elleanor LAMB Dr Heather GRAVEN
Future changes in ocean carbon-13 Daisy BLAKE Dr Heather GRAVEN
Understanding relationships between El-Nino, wildfire emissions and regional climate change using Earth system model data Clara BAYLEY Dr Matthew KASOAR
SPAT UROP projects summer 2020
Summary of the table's contents
UROP students 2019
Project TitleStudentSupervisor
The role of clouds for natural climate variability and forced climate change Paul Curtis Dr Paulo Ceppi
Cassini magnetometer studies: End of MIssion dataset Daniel Gillies Prof Michele Dougherty & Dr Greg Hunt
Investigating the use of compressional mirror-mode fluctuations in space plasmas for the calibration of magnetometer instruments Gabriel Maheson Chris Carr
ASTRAEUS James McKevitt Dr Ingo Mueller-Wodarg
Software support for JUICE Magnetometer Development Clovis Parker-Jervis Alex Strickland
Solar system science Katherine Sephton Dr Adam Masters
Data analysis of JUICE Magnetometer ground test campaign Anne Soltow Richard Baughen
Analysing the substructure of magnetic flux ropes using data from NASA's magnetospheric multiscale mission Madalina Tudorache Dr Julia Stawarz
Quantifying forcing, feedbacks and climate sensitivity in global climate models Lisa Winkler Dr Paulo Ceppi
To develop a performance prediction model of magnetic field in Python Jie Sing Yoo Chris Carr
Calculating Cassini's potential: A high-performance computing study Zeqi Zhang Dr Ravi Desai
Parker Solar Probe measurements of the near-Sun solar wind Ronan Laker Prof Tim Horbury
To develop a performance prediction model of magnectic field in Python Jie Sing Yoo  Chris Carr
SPAT UROP projects summer 2019
Summary of the table's contents
UROP students 2018
Project TitleStudentSupervisor
 Partitioning of heat transport between ocean and atmosphere  Jack Carlin  Arnaud Czaja
 Mirror-mode structures in the Earth's magnetosphere investigated using data from the Cluster FGM magnetometers  Han Yau Choong  Chris Carr 
 Development of magnetoresistive sensors for space weather monitoring  Claudia Cobo Torres  Chiara Palla 
 Building a database of simulations for the Forum mission  Xinmiao Hu  Helen Brindley
 Analysis of PDRMIP solar experiments  Elliott Kasoar  
 Predicting the space weather effects of coronal mass ejections  Ronan Laker  Tim Horbury
 Studies of oceanographical tracers  Elleanor Lamb  Heather Graven
 Development of a magnetic moment inversion system for the screening of magnetic parts to be used in an instrument in development for the ESA JUICE Mission  Adrian Lamoury   Patrick Brown 
 Using machine learning to reduce uncertainty in climate change predictions  Gerald Lim   Peer Nowack
 Developing a novel ozone parameterization to speed up climate change simulations  Qing Yee Ellie Ong   
 ITCZ shifts in an intermediate complexity atmospheric model  Burhanuddin Pisavadi  Arnaud Czaja
 Mirror-mode structures in the Earth's magnetosphere investigated using data from the Cluster FGM magnetometers  Jiatianfu Qu   Chris Carr
 The intertropical convergence zone in past and future climates  Rhidian Thomas  
 Study on SFG in the ocean  Henry Throp   Heather Graven
 Analysing data from the Helios Solar Mission to explore the process of magnetic reconnection  Hanae Tilquin   Jonathan Eastwood 
SPAT UROP projects summer 2018
Summer 2018 UROP students and projects