Statistics for Space Weather

Space weather events can negatively effect satellites, the electricity grid, satellite navigation systems and human health. Such consequences have caused space weather to be added to the UK (amongst other nations) National Risk Register. Many existing systems actively mitigate against such events, however, there is a need to investigate the likelihood of extreme space weather events. The field of space weather is still a developing discipline, sitting on the boundary of physics, engineering and mathematics. One area where significant work is still required is that of “space weather statistics”. Recent work using extreme value theory (EVT) has sought to put more mathematical rigour into the estimation of extreme space weather events. Well understood, quantified, and estimation of such events is required for future policy decisions and modelling of the space weather problem. However these have been ad-hoc studies and a coordinated and coherent application of EVT to a range of physical datasets is required to characterise the underlying distribution of extreme space weather. Furthermore, a detailed statistical understanding of space weather model representation errors and their effective resolution needs to be undertaken in order to understand their limitations and future development.

Applications are open to students that have, or expect to obtain, a 1st class degree (or equivalent) in a wide variety of scientific disciplines including physics and mathematics. Due to the nature of the project, the applicant should be able to demonstrate a high level of mathematical and programming ability. This fully-funded PhD opportunity will be based within the Space Environment and Radio Engineering (SERENE) group at the University of Birmingham. The successful candidate will also be expected to collaborate with researchers in Europe and the USA. 

For more information, please visit our home page: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/eese/communications-sensing/serene/serene.aspx