James Clemmons works in the field of space physics. His interests include auroral phenomena, physics of the Earth's ionosphere-thermosphere system, and the magnetosphere. Primary methods of inquiry are space experiments and instrumentation, as well as analysis of data. He serves as a Co-Investigator on NASA's Van Allen Probes and Magnetospheric Multiscale missions. Recent sounding rocket experiments include the Auroral Jet and RENU-2 missions, and current projects include the VISIONS-2, TOMEX-Plus, and Dynamo-2 sounding rocket missions, the LLITED cubesat mission, analysis of data from the TWINS-ES experiment, and modeling of the atmospheric mass density anomaly beneath the earth's magnetospheric cusp.
Courses Taught
- INCO 590: Student Research Experience
- PHYS 407: General Physics I Recitation
- PHYS 407S: General Physics I Studio
- PHYS 712/812: Space Plasma Physics
- PHYS 797: Senior Design Project
- PHYS 999: Doctoral Research
Research Interests
- Aeronomy
- Atmosphere: Composition & Disturbance
- Atmospheric Physics
- Atmospheric Remote Sensing
- Atmospheric Sciences
- Atmospheric Structure and Dynamics
- Geophysics
- Geosciences
- Instrumentation, Techniques (Physical Sciences)
- Ionospheres
- Ionospheric Phenomena
- Ionospheric Physics
- Magnetohydrodynamics
- Magnetospheric Phenomena
- Physical Sciences
- Physics
- Plasma Physics
- Space Sciences
- Space Weather
- Spacecraft
- Turbulence
Selected Publications
Akbari, H., Pfaff, R., Clemmons, J., Freudenreich, H., Rowland, D., & Streltsov, A. (2022). Resonant Alfven Waves in the Lower Auroral Ionosphere: Evidence for the Nonlinear Evolution of the Ionospheric Feedback Instability. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS, 127(2). doi:10.1029/2021JA029854
Lessard, M. R., Fritz, B., Sadler, B., Cohen, I., Kenward, D., Godbole, N., . . . Yeoman, T. (2020). Overview of the Rocket Experiment for Neutral Upwelling Sounding Rocket 2 (RENU2). GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 47(21). doi:10.1029/2018GL081885
Fritz, B. A., Lessard, M. R., Dymond, K. F., Kenward, D. R., Lynch, K. A., Hecht, J. H., . . . Solomon, S. C. (2020). RENU2 UV PMT Observations of the Cusp. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 47(20). doi:10.1029/2019GL082314
Hecht, J. H., Clemmons, J. H., Lessard, M. R., Kenward, D. L., Sadler, F. B., Fritz, B. A., . . . Lynch, K. A. (2020). A New Technique for Estimating the Lifetime of Bursts of Electron Precipitation From Sounding Rocket Measurements. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 47(18). doi:10.1029/2019GL082894
Pfaff, R., Larsen, M., Abe, T., Habu, H., Clemmons, J., Freudenreich, H., . . . Angelopoulos, V. (2020). Daytime Dynamo Electrodynamics With Spiral Currents Driven by Strong Winds Revealed by Vapor Trails and Sounding Rocket Probes. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 47(15). doi:10.1029/2020GL088803
Burch, J. L., Torbert, R. B., Phan, T. D., Chen, L. -J., Moore, T. E., Ergun, R. E., . . . Chandler, M. (2016). Electron-scale measurements of magnetic reconnection in space. SCIENCE, 352(6290). doi:10.1126/science.aaf2939
Blake, J. B., Carranza, P. A., Claudepierre, S. G., Clemmons, J. H., Jr, C. W. R., Dotan, Y., . . . Zakrzewski, M. P. (2013). The Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) Instruments Aboard the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Spacecraft. SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS, 179(1-4), 383-421. doi:10.1007/s11214-013-9991-8
Spence, H. E., Reeves, G. D., Baker, D. N., Blake, J. B., Bolton, M., Bourdarie, S., . . . Thorne, R. M. (2013). Science Goals and Overview of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) Suite on NASA's Van Allen Probes Mission. SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS, 179(1-4), 311-336. doi:10.1007/s11214-013-0007-5
Marklund, G., Karlsson, T., & Clemmons, J. (1997). On low-altitude particle acceleration and intense electric fields and their relationship to black aurora. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS, 102(A8), 17509-17522. doi:10.1029/97JA00334
BOEHM, M. H., CARLSON, C. W., MCFADDEN, J. P., CLEMMONS, J. H., & MOZER, F. S. (1990). HIGH-RESOLUTION SOUNDING ROCKET OBSERVATIONS OF LARGE-AMPLITUDE ALFVEN WAVES. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS, 95(A8), 12157-12171. doi:10.1029/JA095iA08p12157