Dr Anne ("Annie") Wellbrock

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Department of Space and Climate Physics

Annie is a planetary scientist specialising in plasma interactions within the solar system. Her research spans planetary ionospheres, plasma processes around comets, and solar wind interactions, with a particular focus on Titan and cometary environments.

Annie’s interests at Titan include the properties and behaviour of heavy negative ions in Titan’s ionosphere and tracing characteristic photoelectrons to enhance our understanding of Titan’s plasma environment. As a member of the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) team, she has analysed data from the electron spectrometer (ELS) to investigate these topics, which formed the foundation of her PhD research at UCL-MSSL and remain central to her current investigations. Her studies provide new insights into the role of heavy organic particles in Titan’s ionosphere and atmosphere, and how the moon interacts with Saturn’s magnetosphere.

In addition to her research on Titan, Annie studies plasma interactions with comets. As a member of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC) team, she has analysed in-situ data from ESA’s Rosetta mission at comet 67P, examining the effects of solar transient events, such as solar energetic particles (SEPs) and interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), on the cometary plasma environment. Her work also involves tracing solar transient events through the solar system, utilising heliospheric models and spacecraft data to investigate their impacts across different planetary settings.

Annie has recently expanded her research to include amateur observations of cometary ion tails, focusing on disturbances such as disconnection events, which often involve plasma processes like magnetic reconnection. By linking these phenomena to solar wind dynamics, heliospheric current sheet crossings, and solar transient events, her work enhances our understanding of cometary plasma environments and contributes to improving solar wind modelling. Studying such disturbances also allows tracing specific features within ion tails, offering new perspectives on their dynamics and interactions with the solar wind.

In her spare time, Annie enjoys practising aerial sling.