Universidad de Santiago de Chile — Department of Physics
We study the Earth's magnetosphere, radiation belts, and solar wind coupling using satellite data and ground-based observations. Our group develops machine learning tools for space weather prediction and contributes to Chile's first national space weather monitoring platform.
Credit: NASA/PSPL/PIA23789
Research
Energization, transport, and decay of relativistic electrons in the Van Allen belts. Enhancement and dropout events during geomagnetic storms. Formation and evolution of ultrarelativistic remnant belts. Adiabatic and non-adiabatic processes in the outer radiation belt.
Role of electromagnetic ULF waves in trapped particle dynamics. Magnetospheric turbulence and total pressure balance during storms and substorms. Eddy diffusion in the plasma sheet. Wave-particle interactions.
Prediction of ground magnetic perturbations and geomagnetically induced currents (GIC). Probabilistic forecasting using deep learning (LSTM, CNN). ML model explainability for operational space weather. Plasmapause location with machine learning.
Solar wind dynamic pressure effects on magnetospheric turbulence. Foreshock transients and magnetospheric perturbations. Expanding plasma systems: solar and stellar winds. Adiabatic invariants and non-adiabatic mechanisms in solar wind expansion.
Active grants
FONDEF IDEA I+D — ANID
Chile's first national pilot platform for real-time space weather monitoring and early warnings, with ML-based predictive models. In collaboration with Universidad Adventista de Chile.
FONDECYT Initiation 2025 — ANID
The role of electromagnetic ULF waves in the dynamics of charged particles trapped in Earth's radiation belts.
FONDECYT Regular 2025 — ANID (PI: M. Stepanova)
Turbulence and total pressure balance in the interconnected dynamic magnetosphere during storms and substorms.
Publications
The Role of auroral phenomena in the dynamics of the outer radiation belt
Role of the solar wind dynamic pressure in magnetospheric turbulence
Radial evolution of ultrarelativistic electrons during enhancement events
Using ML explainability to examine drivers of ground magnetic field localization
On ULF Wave Power and Changes of Relativistic Electron Fluxes
Labs
The group operates two research labs. The Space Instrumentation Lab maintains ground-based magnetometer networks (SAMBA chain) and supports field campaigns. The Space Weather Lab develops real-time monitoring and ML-based prediction systems for geomagnetic disturbances and relativistic electron dynamics.
Contact
We are looking for master's and undergraduate students to work on relativistic electron dynamics, geomagnetic storm prediction with deep learning, GIC modeling, satellite data processing (Van Allen Probes, THEMIS, GOES), and magnetospheric turbulence. If you are a physics, astrophysics, or related student, email us at victor.pinto@usach.cl