Catherine Louise Johnson
Alma materUniversity of California, San Diego
Scientific career
InstitutionsPlanetary Science Institute
University of British Columbia
ThesisThe geomagnetic field over the last 5 myr from lava flows, and properties of the Venusian lithosphere from Magellan data (1994)

Catherine L. Johnson is a planetary scientist known for her research on the magnetic fields of planets including Mercury, Venus, Earth and its moon, and Mars. In 2023, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[1]

Education and career

Johnson has B.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh (1989),[2] and earned a Ph.D. in geophysics from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego in 1994. Following her Ph.D., she was a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Institution for Science until 1997, at which point she joined the IRIS Consortium where she worked until 2001. From 2001 until 2006, she worked at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and then she moved to the University of British Columbia.[3] In 2010, she joined the Planetary Science Institute.

In 2013, Johnson was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union who cited her "for significant contributions to understanding the magnetic fields and interior structures of the Moon and terrestrial planets".[4]

From 2019 until 2020, Johnson was the president Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism and Electromagnetism section at the American Geophysical Union.[2]

Research

Johnson is known for her research on magnetic fields of planets, and how they change over time. She uses chemical signals stored in lava flows to track changes in Earth's magnetic field,[5][6][7] which includes lava flows sampled in locations such as the Azores.[8] Her research on Mercury used the MESSENGER space probe to make observations of Mercury's magnetic field.[9][10][11] On Mars, Johnson tracks variability in Mars' magnetic field over time[12][13] and uses the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter to track the topography of Mars' northern polar cap.[14] Johnson's research on Mars uses first magnetic sensor placed on Mars, part of the InSight lander, to reveal small scale details about Mars' magnetic field which was stronger than expected based on previous measurements using satellite data.[15][16] Johnson is the only Canadian involved in the InSight mission,[17][18] which is led by the United States' National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA).

Selected publications

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ "2023 NAS Election".
  2. ^ a b "Catherine L. Johnson CV at University of British Columbia" (PDF). 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-12. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  3. ^ "Dr. Catherine Johnson". Planetary Science Institute. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  4. ^ a b "Johnson". Honors Program. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  5. ^ Johnson, C. L.; Constable, Catherine G.; Tauxe, Lisa (2003-06-27). "GEOPHYSICS: Mapping Long-Term Changes in Earth's Magnetic Field". Science. 300 (5628): 2044–2045. doi:10.1126/science.1082007. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 12829772. S2CID 118112727.
  6. ^ Johnson, Catherine L.; Constable, Catherine G. (1995-09-01). "The time-averaged geomagnetic field as recorded by lava flows over the past 5 Myr". Geophysical Journal International. 122 (2): 489–519. Bibcode:1995GeoJI.122..489J. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1995.tb07010.x. ISSN 0956-540X.
  7. ^ Johnson, Catherine L.; Constable, Catherine G. (1996-01-15). "Palaeosecular variation recorded by lava flows over the past five million years". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 354 (1704): 89–141. Bibcode:1996RSPTA.354...89J. doi:10.1098/rsta.1996.0004. S2CID 84105412.
  8. ^ Johnson, Catherine L.; Wijbrans, Jan R.; Constable, Catherine G.; Gee, Jeff; Staudigel, Hubert; Tauxe, Lisa; Forjaz, Victor-H.; Salgueiro, Mário (1998). "40Ar/39Ar ages and paleomagnetism of São Miguel lavas, Azores". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 160 (3–4): 637–649. Bibcode:1998E&PSL.160..637J. doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(98)00117-4.
  9. ^ Johnson, Catherine L.; Purucker, Michael E.; Korth, Haje; Anderson, Brian J.; Winslow, Reka M.; Al Asad, Manar M. H.; Slavin, James A.; Alexeev, Igor. I.; Phillips, Roger J.; Zuber, Maria T.; Solomon, Sean C. (2012). "MESSENGER observations of Mercury's magnetic field structure: MERCURY'S MAGNETIC FIELD STRUCTURE". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 117 (E12): n/a. doi:10.1029/2012JE004217. hdl:2027.42/96229. S2CID 15704254.
  10. ^ Johnson, C. L.; Phillips, R. J.; Purucker, M. E.; Anderson, B. J.; Byrne, P. K.; Denevi, B. W.; Feinberg, J. M.; Hauck, S. A.; Head, J. W.; Korth, H.; James, P. B. (2015-05-22). "Low-altitude magnetic field measurements by MESSENGER reveal Mercury's ancient crustal field". Science. 348 (6237): 892–895. Bibcode:2015Sci...348..892J. doi:10.1126/science.aaa8720. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 25953822. S2CID 11088932.
  11. ^ May 2015, Charles Q. Choi 07 (2015-05-07). "Mercury's Magnetism May Have Once Rivaled Earth's". Space.com. Retrieved 2021-09-12.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Johnson, Catherine L.; Mittelholz, Anna; Langlais, Benoit; Russell, Christopher T.; Ansan, Véronique; Banfield, Don; Chi, Peter J.; Fillingim, Matthew O.; Forget, Francois; Haviland, Heidi Fuqua; Golombek, Matthew (2020). "Crustal and time-varying magnetic fields at the InSight landing site on Mars". Nature Geoscience. 13 (3): 199–204. Bibcode:2020NatGe..13..199J. doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0537-x. ISSN 1752-0894. S2CID 211265951.
  13. ^ Williams, Matt (2020-05-07). "When Did Mars Lose its Global Magnetic Field?". Universe Today. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  14. ^ Johnson, C (2000). "Lithospheric Loading by the Northern Polar Cap on Mars". Icarus. 144 (2): 313–328. Bibcode:2000Icar..144..313J. doi:10.1006/icar.1999.6310.
  15. ^ February 2020, Elizabeth Howell 26 (2020-02-26). "Mars lander reveals new details about the Red Planet's strange magnetic field". Space.com. Retrieved 2021-09-12.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Williams, Matt (March 9, 2020). "Magnetic Fields Around NASA's Mars Lander Are 10 Times Stronger Than Scientists Expected". ScienceAlert. Archived from the original on 2020-03-09. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  17. ^ "8 tense minutes, and then good news, for UBC planetary scientist involved in Mars landing". CBC. November 26, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  18. ^ Crawford, Tiffany (January 9, 2018). "UBC researcher to study earthquakes on Mars". vancouversun. Archived from the original on 2017-12-28. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  19. ^ "Edward Bullard Lecture | AGU". www.agu.org. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  20. ^ "RAS Awards 2019". Astronomy & Geophysics. 60 (1): 1.11–1.13. 2019-02-01. doi:10.1093/astrogeo/atz038. ISSN 1366-8781.

External links

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