The Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (e‑POP) is a research payload on the CASSIOPE spacecraft that is collecting data on space storms and associated plasma outflows from the Earth’s ionosphere. 

Dr. Miles was the instrument co-PI of the magnetic field instrument on the Cassiope/e-POP spacecraft. The e-POP MaGnetic Field instrument (MGF) consists of dual, tri-axial fluxgate magnetometers mounted on an 92.9-cm carbon fiber boom (separated by 32 cm) for measurements of magnetic field perturbations to a precision of 0.0625 nanotesla, from which to infer small-scale field-aligned currents. The principal scientific goal of MGF is to investigate the localization and characterization of field-aligned currents in the high-latitude auroral zones and polar caps.

See more at https://epop.phys.ucalgary.ca/MGF/

Research

A publication in Geophysical Research Letters, led by Dr.  Miles, makes use of e-POP and Swarm in-situ satellite data over Northern Canada to address the question of the energy source for dynamic aurora: static electric fields or magnetic waves? It is shown that magnetic Alfvén waves can be present over dynamic aurora, and it is argued that these waves play an important role in powering the brilliant aurora overhead. See the full abstract of the paper to find out more.