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- Written by: Rod Boyce
Three NASA-funded rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, in an experiment that seeks to reveal how auroral substorms affect the behavior and composition of Earth’s far upper atmosphere.
The experiment’s outcome could upend a long-held theory about the aurora’s interaction with the thermosphere. It may also improve space weather forecasting, critical as the world becomes increasingly reliant on satellite-based devices such as GPS units in everyday life.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks, or UAF, Geophysical Institute owns Poker Flat, located 20 miles north of Fairbanks, and operates it under a contract with NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, which is part of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The experiment, titled Auroral Waves Excited by Substorm Onset Magnetic Events, or AWESOME, features one four-stage rocket and two two-stage rockets all launching in an approximately three-hour period.
Colorful vapor tracers from the largest of the three rockets should be visible across much of northern Alaska. The launch window is March 24 through April 6.
The mission, led by Mark Conde, a space physics professor at UAF, involves about a dozen UAF graduate student researchers at several ground monitoring sites in Alaska at Utqiagvik, Kaktovik, Toolik Lake, Eagle, and Venetie, as well as Poker Flat. NASA delivers, assembles, tests, and launches the rockets.
“Our experiment asks the question, when the aurora goes berserk and dumps a bunch of heat in the atmosphere, how much of that heat is spent transporting the air upward in a continuous convective plume and how much of that heat results in not only vertical but also horizontal oscillations in the atmosphere?” Conde said.
Confirming which process is dominant will reveal the breadth of the mixing and the related changes in the thin air’s characteristics.
“Change in composition of the atmosphere has consequences,” Conde said. “And we need to know the extent of those consequences.”
Most of the thermosphere, which reaches from about 50 to 350 miles above the surface, is what scientists call “convectively stable.” That means minimal vertical motion of air, because the warmer air is already at the top, due to absorption of solar radiation.
When auroral substorms inject energy and momentum into the middle and lower thermosphere (roughly 60 to 125 miles up), it upsets that stability. That leads to one prevailing theory — that the substorms’ heat is what causes the vertical-motion churn of the thermosphere.
Conde believes instead that acoustic-buoyancy waves are the dominant mixing force and that vertical convection has a much lesser role. Because acoustic-buoyancy waves travel vertically and horizontally from where the aurora hits, the aurora-caused atmospheric changes could be occurring over a much broader area than currently believed.
Better prediction of impacts from those changes is the AWESOME mission’s practical goal.
“I believe our experiment will lead to a simpler and more accurate method of space weather prediction,” Conde said.
Two two-stage, 42-foot Terrier-Improved Malemute rockets are planned to respectively launch about 15 minutes and an hour after an auroral substorm begins. A four-stage, 70-foot Black Brant XII rocket is planned to launch about five minutes after the second rocket.
The first two rockets will release tracers at altitudes of 50 and 110 miles to detect wind movement and wave oscillations. The third rocket will release tracers at five altitudes from 68 to 155 miles.
Pink, blue, and white vapor traces should be visible from the third rocket for 10 to 20 minutes. Launches must occur in the dawn hours, with sunlight hitting the upper altitudes to activate the vapor tracers from the first rocket but darkness at the surface so ground cameras can photograph the tracers’ response to air movement.
Rod Boyce works for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Supervisors Bruno Sabatier and Helen Owen took the city’s request for the discussions to their colleagues at the Feb. 25 meeting.
The city’s request for dialogue about the Lake County Special Districts, or LACOSAN, Southeast System initially was made in April 2024.
Their report said the city requested that the Board of Supervisors — sitting also in its capacity as the LACOSAN Board of Directors — “engage in discussions with City officials on a governance model that would provide greater involvement from the City in maintenance and operations of the District.”
LACOSAN is part of Lake County Special Districts.
Sabatier and Owen said in their written report that they’ve met and discussed the request with Special Districts, the Lake County administration and the city of Clearlake about this request. “We are requesting that the Board of Supervisors approve initiating discussions with the City of Clearlake delegation to seek various options on how future engagements will be handled between both jurisdictions.”
They requested that the county delegation for the discussions include themselves, one administration team member and Special Districts Director Robin Borre.
During the meeting, Sabatier noted there have been ongoing issues with LACOSAN’s operations, especially in the Highlands area of Clearlake. He said there has been a million gallons of raw sewage that has leaked out of the system, some of it going into the lake.
Sabatier said there is now a different relationship between the county and city, which he hopes is positive. He pointed out that LACOSAN is controlled by the county but operating within the city.
City Manager Alan Flora said he appreciated Sabatier and Owen for bringing the matter forward and he is looking forward to working together.
There was no public comment before the board began its deliberations, with Supervisor Brad Rasmussen leading off by saying he was in favor of approving the request.
Supervisor Jessica Pyska didn’t support the proposal, saying she didn’t see how it benefitted the county.
“We are in partnership and there have been some historical problems,” said Sabatier, adding that by approving the proposal, the board is saying they are coming to the table with the city to work together.
“We do need to look into this,” said Owen, noting there have been major spills, one of them in her district. “This is something that we do need to resolve.”
Borre said discussions with Clearlake could open it up for other groups to want to enter into similar discussions.
Pyska said that was her concern, and that it could result in unfair representation with LACOSAN. She said the county has a good relationship with the city, adding that she didn’t see it as benefiting the rest of the county, including her constituency.
Sabatier said the very first conversation should be the definition of the district, and he believes there are opportunities if they open up a dialog.
Borre said she would have to carve out time to have discussions, explaining she and her staff already spend a significant amount of time dealing with Clearlake issues.
Pyska said the county was in the midst of other work, including negotiations involving The Geysers pipeline, and she didn’t support diverting staff time. “I am not in favor of going down this road.”
Owen said they needed to take action and that she didn’t want to see any more overflows.
Borre said that, since she has worked for the county — she was hired in May of 2024 — there haven’t been significant overflows. She said there were a few minor spills in Clearlake in September but there were no spills during major storms, which she credited to her staff’s ingenuity and being proactive.
Board Chair EJ Crandell said that he also didn’t support the discussions because of staff’s work and deadlines on other matters.
Rasmussen made two motions, the first to approve initiating discussions with Clearlake, with Owen seconded and the board approved 3-2, with Crandell and Pyska voting no.
His second motion was to approve placing Owen, Sabatier, Borre and a member of the county administrative officer’s staff on the delegation to meet with Clearlake.
Pyska said she was concerned about the impact on the rest of the county and she wanted a different composition for the discussion group. She asked Rasmussen if he would be willing to sit on the delegation and he said he was open to it.
Sabatier, however, said he wanted to keep it to supervisors within that jurisdiction area.
County Administrative Officer Susan Parker told the board that her office is greatly involved in The Geysers discussions and the county budget until June 30, as well as working on issues related to the Potter Valley Project. As a result, she asked that the discussions begin after July 1.
Rasmussen, Owen and Sabatier were all OK with it. With Rasmussen’s motion amended to include that timeline, the board voted 3-2, again with Crandell and Pyska voting no.
Clearlake City Council gets update on action
At the March 6 Clearlake City Council meeting, Flora recounted how the council had adopted a resolution in April 2024 relating to the Southeast System, which is an independent system in which the supervisors serve as the board.
He said the city has had a number of issues and frustrations over operation of the system over the last few years.
When the city was incorporated, it should have been given seats as part of the governing board and that did not happen, Flora said.
Flora said those concerns led to the council’s approval of the April resolution seeking to discuss the Southeast System’s governance with the Board of Supervisors.
He said there was more discussion than he expected at the board meeting, and said it was “quite disappointing to see,” regarding the narrow votes to approve the city’s request.
However, the good news is that there will be a discussion starting after July 1, Flora said.
Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten said it was time the city gets involved, noting numerous spills and odor issues. He said the city needs to be proactive, and that the system is antiquated and needs to be brought up to standards.
Mayor Russell Cremer agreed with Slooten. He said he also was disappointed by the narrow vote in support. “This is affecting our city.”
Sabatier, who attended the council meeting, said he appreciated the request from the city and was glad the board gave approval to move forward. Cremer said he appreciated Sabatier advocating for the city.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Elizabeth Arnold, 39, and Sarah Simon, 48, early Tuesday morning.
The agency said that at 12:42 a.m. Tuesday, deputies were dispatched to investigate two suspicious subjects entering people's vehicles in the 3000 block of Estrella Court in Ukiah.
Upon arrival at the scene, deputies immediately observed a female who was driving a vehicle at a slow speed with all of the lights turned off. The female was stopped by deputies and identified as Sarah Simon.
Deputies also observed another female hiding behind a nearby vehicle in the driveway of a residence, who was identified as Elizabeth Arnold.
Both Simon and Arnold were detained, and deputies began their investigation by canvassing the neighborhood.
The deputies located multiple vehicles in the area with the doors open. Deputies contacted the homeowners where the vehicles were parked and learned several items had been stolen from the vehicles.
A search of Arnold, Simon and their vehicle revealed numerous items that had just been stolen, the sheriff’s office said.
Simon was also in possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, and had an active warrant for her arrest out of Lake County for petty theft with two priors.
During their investigation, the deputies learned both Arnold and Simon were also suspects in similar thefts of numerous items taken from vehicles in the nearby neighborhoods of West Fork Estates and Lake Mendocino Estates, which occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 18.
Sheriff’s detectives assisted with this investigation and gathered additional evidence and statements which led to the execution of search warrants for additional stolen property.
In all, authorities said investigators determined there were five victims of the Tuesday burglaries.
During the investigation, Simon was placed under arrest for her felony arrest warrant out of Lake County, along with charges of felony conspiracy, possession of paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.
Arnold was placed under arrest for felonies of conspiracy and grand theft.
Simon was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where she was to be held in lieu of $10,000 bail for the Lake County warrant and $15,000 bail for the current open charges.
Arnold was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where she was to be held in lieu of $15,000.00 bail.
Anyone with information related to this investigation and thefts is requested to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 (option 1).
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The crash, which took place just before noon on Sunday, led to the death of 88-year-old Edmund Joseph Slevin.
The CHP’s Clear Lake Area office said that at 11:50 a.m. Sunday, Slevin was driving his Hyundai southbound on Lakeshore Boulevard south of Rainbow Drive at an unknown speed.
Amely Ballesteros, 21, of Lakeport was driving a Jeep at a stated speed of 30 to 35 miles per hour, traveling northbound on Lakeshore Boulevard north of Beach Lane, approaching Slevin’s vehicle.
She saw Slevin’s Hyundai drift across the roadway centerline towards oncoming traffic, narrowly missing the vehicle in front of her, the CHP said.
The left front corner of Slevin’s Hyundai struck the left side of Amely Ballesteros’ Jeep, causing the Jeep to spin about where it came to rest, on its wheels, facing a southwesterly direction in front of a residence, according to the CHP report.
The CHP said Slevin’s vehicle continued further onto the northbound shoulder towards a residence, where it came to rest against a water main, facing in a south-easterly direction.
Slevin was unresponsive at the scene and did not regain consciousness, the CHP reported.
The report said Slevin was transported to Sutter Lakeside for medical treatment. Emergency room staff at Sutter Lakeside ultimately exhausted efforts to revive him and pronounced him deceased just after 1 p.m., the CHP said.
The CHP report said Ballesteros was uninjured.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
