Dr. Ronald P. Lepping

Geospace Physics Branch

Laboratory for Solar and Space Physics

EDUCATION: Villanova University, 1961 - B.S.       

                          Drexel University, 1964 - M.S.          

                          Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1969 - Ph.D.

EXPERIENCE:

Dr. Lepping is the author or co-author of about 395 scientific articles and reports, most of which appear in professional journals, and has been a member of the American Geophysical Union since 1961. His general areas of research are: solar wind, solar wind-planetary interactions, magnetic field and particle environments of the solar system planets, with special interests in interplanetary magnetic clouds, shock waves, and MHD discontinuities.  He has worked with data from numerous spacecraft (including Helios, Mariner 10, IMPs 7 and 8, Voyagers 1,2, and many early IMPs) since he started work at Goddard in August 1969 and is the recipient of about 30 NASA science and performance awards, including the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in 1991. He is the principal investigator of the WIND magnetometer investigation, and co-investigator of the Voyager magnetometer investigations, and formally the PI of the IMP 8 magnetometer.  Lepping originated the Lab’s Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) Committee in late 1995 and its E/PO Website.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Lepping, R. P., D. B. Berdichevsky, and C.-C., Wu, Sun-Earth electrodynamics: The solar wind connection, Recent Res. Devel. Astrophys., Research Signpost, 1, pp 139 - 171, ISBN: 81-271-0004-8, 2003. 

Lepping, R. P., D. Berdichevsky, A. Szabo, et al., Profile of an Average Magnetic Cloud  at 1 AU for Quiet Solar Phase: WIND Observations, Solar Phys., 212, 425 - 444, 2003.

Lepping, R. P., C.-C. Wu, and K. McClernan, Two Dimensional Curvature of Large Angle Interplanetary MHD Discontinuity Surfaces: IMP-8 and WIND Observations, J.       Geophys. Res., 108(A7), 1279, doi:10.1029/2002JA009640, 2003.

Lepping, R. P., D. Berdichevsky, and T. Ferguson, Estimated Errors in Magnetic Cloud Model Fit-Parameters with Force Free Cylindrically Symmetric Assumptions, J. Geophys. Res., 108(A10), 1356, doi:10.1029/2002JA009657, 2003.

Lepping, R. P., and C.-C. Wu, Extreme Interplanetary Rotational Discontinuities at 1 AU, J. Geophys. Res., in press, 2005.

Lepping, R. P., E. C. Sittler, Jr., et al., Analysis of Waves in Saturn’s Dayside Magnetosphere: Voyager 1 Observations, J. Geophys. Res., in press, 2005.

Lepping, R. P., C.-C. Wu, and D. B. Berdichevsky, Automated Identification of Magnetic Clouds and Cloud-like Regions at 1 AU: Occurrence Rate and Field Profile Classifications, Ann. Geophysicae, in press, 2005.

Lepping, R. P., D. B. Berdichevsky, C.-C. Wu, et al., A Summary of WIND Magnetic Clouds for the Years 1995 - 2003: Model-Fitted Parameters, Associated Errors, and Classifications, Ann. Geophysicae, submitted, 2005.