Research
Research Interests
My primary research interest is in the interactions between the Earth’s atmosphere and its space environment. I have been trying to understand the physical connections between atmosphere and geospace in three pathways: particle, electromagnetic, and thermodynamic.
Particle Coupling Particle pathway includes auroral precipitation and ion outflow. My experience primarily focuses on particle precipitation, including the fundamental mechanisms driving charged particle precipitation into the atmosphere, its contribution to the generation of ionospheric conductance, and consequent impacts on the electrodynamic coupling between the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere (MIT).
Electromagnetic (EM) Coupling Electromagnetic (EM) pathway refers to the EM field, wave, and Poynting flux, connecting the magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. These processes include plasma convection electric field, Alfvén waves propagating along geomagnetic field lines, and energy flow carried by the EM waves.
Thermal Coupling Thermodynamic pathway refers to the heat flux between the hot magnetospheric plasma (1s-1000s eV, where 1 eV ~ 11600 K) and relatively cooler upper atmospheric plasma (100s-1000s K).
Methodology I have been mainly using the Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment (MAGE) model to explore the particle, EM, and heat fluxes in the coupled atmosphere-geospace environment. The MAGE model has been under active development at the NASA DRIVE Science Center for Geospace Storms (CGS).
Selected Publications (A full list of publications can be found at my Google Scholar page)
Lin, D., Hartinger, M., Lotko, W., Wang, W., Shi, X., Sorathia, K., et al. (2026). Efficiency of electromagnetic energy transfer from solar wind to ionosphere through magnetospheric ultra-low frequency waves. Geophysical Research Letters, 53, e2025GL118532. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL118532
Lin, D., Wang, W., Fok, M.-C., Pham, K., Yue, J., & Wu, H. (2024). Subauroral red arcs generated by inner magnetospheric heat flux and by subauroral polarization streams. Geophysical Research Letters, 51, e2024GL109617. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109617
Lin, D., Wang, W., Merkin, V. G., Huang, C., Oppenheim, M., Sorathia, K., et al. (2022). Origin of dawnside subauroral polarization streams during major geomagnetic storms. AGU Advances, 3, e2022AV000708. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022AV000708
Lin, D., Wang, W., Garcia-Sage, K., Yue, J., Merkin, V., McInerney, J. M., et al. (2022). Thermospheric neutral density variation during the “SpaceX” storm: Implications from physics-based whole geospace modeling. Space Weather, 20, e2022SW003254. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022SW003254
Lin, D., Sorathia, K., Wang, W., Merkin, V., Bao, S., Pham, K., et al. (2021). The role of diffuse electron precipitation in the formation of subauroral polarization streams. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 126, e2021JA029792. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JA029792