Earth and Space Sciences Annual Report 2015 Dear Reader, Welcome back — this is the tenth consecutive year that our department is producing an annual report of this specific type. Obviously, with more than one hundred hard working full time employees it is not possible to show you the complete picture. Instead we try to give an overall summary, including selected results, hoping they will be of interest to you. Gunnar Elgered, Some highlights that have occurred during the year: Head of Department – we congratulate Wouter Vlemmings, who was appointed full professor in Radio Astronomy on the 1st of November; – the optical remote sensing group installed a monitoring station for measuring the emission from ships at the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark; – the construction began of the concrete foundations for the twin telescopes at the observatory; – the super tide gauge station at the observatory was inaugurated (see next page); – with financial support from the Chalmers University of Technology Foundation we started to produce two “Massive Open Online Courses” (MOOCs); – the group for advanced receiver development installed two new receivers, one in the 20 m telescope in Onsala and one in the APEX telescope in Chile. Please continue reading about these and many more activities. Press Clippings Swedish instrument has found water in space Here’s the Cigar Galaxy in new detail Scientists have found water vapour in space by using An international group of radio astronomers the Swedish instrument Sepia. led by Chalmers has acquired the sharpest astronomy picture so far at long wavelengths. Dagens Nyheter – November The picture is taken with the LOFAR telescope. Measuring sea level in a unique way Expressen – January The new tide gauge station at the Onsala Space Observatory was inaugurated on September 17. GP, Ny teknik, Kungsbacka-Posten, TV4, P4 Göteborg – September An extremely powerful magnetic field close to a supermassive black hole Astronomers have peeled away most of the Stardust in young galaxy surprises gas and dust enshrouding a monster black hole, scientists taking a close look at the giant that lies some 68 One of the most distant galaxies observed thousand light-years away. contained much more dust compared to what was believed to be possible. El Mundo – April GP – March Production: Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences, Chalmers Printed by Danagård LiTHO, 2016. Copies: 750 2 The Cover A new state-of-the-art tide gauge station was established at the Onsala Space Observatory. A goal for the observations, at the fundamental geodetic station, is to measure and model variations in the Earth’s crust at the millimetre level. This implies, for example, that loading effects on the crust due to varying masses in the atmosphere and in the ocean must be measured and understood. The amplitude and phase variations in the local sea level are too complicated to be interpolated using data from the existing nearby tide gauge stations in Ringhals and in Gothenburg. The long term goal is to have continuous time series of sea level observations with an accuracy of a few millimetres. This called for the construction of a new tide gauge station at the observatory. The site was designed in a collaboration with the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). It has been in continuous operation since the summer of 2015. SMHI participates in the data quality check and archiving, thereby securing that the data are suitable for use in future geodynamic research as well as being a high quality station in the Swedish observational network of the sea level. Photo: Lars Wennerbäck Contents First Degree & Master’s Studies .................................4 Bachelor´s Thesis Reports ............................................5 Master’s Thesis Reports ................................................5 Rolf Brennerfelt (right), Director General of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, and Mats Viberg (left), Master´s Programmes ....................................................6 Vice President of Chalmers University of Technology inaugurate the Doctoral Programme ......................................................8 new tide gauge station at the observatory on September 17. Doctoral Dissertations ...................................................8 Photo: Ulf Christensen, SMHI Licentiates.........................................................................9 Advanced Receiver Development .............................10 Global Environmental Measurements and Modelling ........................................................................11 Optical Remote Sensing .............................................12 Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy ..........................13 Radar Remote Sensing ...............................................14 Space Geodesy and Geodynamics .........................15 Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics .........................16 Onsala Space Observatory ........................................18 Publications ....................................................................20 Public Outreach/Press Clippings..............................24 Facts and Figures .........................................................25 Organisation ...................................................................26 The construction team of the tide gauge station. From the left Ronny Wingdén, Christer Hermansson, Henrik Lindh, Jan Karaskuru, Lars Wennerbäck and Jonas Wahlbom. Photo: Ulf Christensen, SMHI 3 First Degree and Master’s Studies The department is active at several levels of teach- The department is involved in two master’s pro- ing: we give courses for students at the Chalmers’ grammes: Physics and Astronomy (together with Magnus Thomasson, Foundation Year, the three-year engineering pro- the Department of Fundamental Physics, from Vice Head of Department and responsible for the gramme in Electrical Engineering and five-year 2016 the Department of Physics) and Wireless, undergraduate teaching master of engineering programmes in Electri- Photonics and Space Engineering (with the De- cal Engineering, Automation and Mechatronics partment of Microtechnology and Nanoscience). Engineering, and Engineering Physics. Most of our courses are at the master’s level, and many of Two of the department’s teachers are also respon- them are also open to students at University of sible for education programmes at Chalmers: Gothenburg. Cathy Horellou is Director of the Master’s Programme in Physics and Astronomy, and Arto In 2015, the department was responsible for Heikkilä is Head of the Programme in Electrical more than 20 courses at Chalmers, plus thesis Engineering. projects at the bachelor’s and master’s level. Our teachers also participated in courses given by Our teaching cooperation with the Department of other departments. The subjects range from basic Physics at the University of Gothenburg (GU) was electrical engineering to courses closely related to Arto Heikkilä, strengthened in 2015, with courses at GU at the Head of the our research in, e.g., astrophysics, remote sensing, bachelor’s level in basic astronomy and on the so- Programme in receiver development, and plasma physics. An lar system given by teachers from our department. Electrical Engineering important subject is measurement techniques. We have our own laboratory, which is used exclusively Towards the end of 2015, many teachers from for teaching and where students get hands-on ex- the department’s Earth science groups were busy perience with measurement instruments. Also the preparing for two MOOCs to be given in Febru- instruments at Onsala Space Observatory are used ary and March of 2016. MOOCs means “Massive in several courses. One example is the small radio Open Online Courses”, i.e., courses given on the telescope SALSA, which astronomy students use web and open for anyone in the world. This is fur- to observe atomic hydrogen gas in the Milky Way. ther described on the page Public Outreach. Cathy Horellou, Chalmers courses given during 2015 Director of the (NB: many of the master’s courses were also open to students at the University of Gothenburg) Master’s Programme in Physics and A Foundation Year Master’s courses and equivalent Astronomy Physics, part B Active microwave circuits (parts of the course) Physics project (parts of the course) Astrophysical dynamics Electromagnetic waves and components Engineering programmes Experimental physics: spectroscopic methods Electrical engineering (parts of the course) Electrical engineering project Galaxies and observational cosmology Telecommunication Image processing Degree project in Earth and Space Sciences Master’s thesis in Earth and Space Sciences Microwave engineering (parts of the course) Master of Engineering programmes, year 1–3 Millimetre wave and THz technology Bachelor’s thesis in Earth and Space Sciences Modern astrophysics Electric circuits and electric power (part of the Plasma physics with applications course) Remote sensing Engineering measurements (for Automation and Radar systems and applications Mechatronics Engineering) Radioastronomical techniques and Engineering measurements (for Electrical interferometry Engineering) Satellite positioning Environmental measurement techniques Satellite communications High frequency electromagnetic waves Space science and techniques Planetary sciences Stellar physics The interstellar medium and star formation 4 Bachelor’s Thesis Reports Frida Almqvist, Oskar Bohlin, Katrin Ekström, Anton Mårtensson, Eirik Seljelid Development of models for studies