Michael McCarthy
Research associate professor, Earth and space sciences
Space and aeronautics
206-685-2543 / mccarthy@uw.edu
Web / Pronouns: he/him
Expertise: Lightning, space weather, aurorae, radiation belts and sprites (upper-atmosphere electrical discharges)
Michael McCarthy is a physicist interested in low-density gases and plasmas. That kind of material is found in Earth’s upper atmospheric regions and the near-Earth space environment. An ongoing research effort has been to understand what processes remove high-energy electrons from the Van Allen radiation belts, which are layers of energetic charged particles held in place around the Earth by the planet’s magnetic field.
He and his students use instrumentation that they design, build, calibrate, and then deploy on balloon, rocket, or spacecraft platforms.
