James Clemmons

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.
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
Courses Taught
- PHYS 407: General Physics I Recitation
- PHYS 407S: General Physics I Studio
- PHYS 408: General Physics II Recitation
Selected Publications
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
Claudepierre, S. G., O'Brien, T. P., Looper, M. D., Blake, J. B., Fennell, J. F., Roeder, J. L., . . . Spence, H. E. (2019). A Revised Look at Relativistic Electrons in the Earth's Inner Radiation Zone and Slot Region. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 124(2), 934-951. doi:10.1029/2018ja026349
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), aaf2939. doi:10.1126/science.aaf2939
Blake, J. B., Carranza, P. A., Claudepierre, S. G., Clemmons, J. H., Crain, 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. (n.d.). High-resolution sounding rocket observations of large-amplitude Alfvén waves. Journal of Geophysical Research, 95(A8), 12157. doi:10.1029/ja095ia08p12157
Most Cited Publications