Search Publications
A statistical and event study of magnetotail dipolarization fronts
Nakamura, R.; Baumjohann, W.; Volwerk, M. +2 more
A study of dipolarization fronts of the Earth's magnetotail has been performed using seven years (2001-2007) of Cluster data. Events both with and without high-speed earthward flows are included. A superposed epoch analysis of the data shows that the dipolarization is preceeded by a decrease of Bz before the increase. The duration of th…
Magnetopause reconnection across wide local time
Berchem, J.; Eastwood, J. P.; Lavraud, B. +19 more
During April to July 2007 a combination of 10 spacecraft provided simultaneous monitoring of the dayside magnetopause across a wide range of local times. The array of four Cluster spacecraft, separated at large distances (10 000 km), were traversing the dawn-side magnetopause at high and low latitudes; the five THEMIS spacecraft were often in a 4 …
Proton/electron temperature ratio in the magnetotail
Petrukovich, A. A.; Dandouras, I.; Nakamura, R. +3 more
We study the temperature ratio of protons and electrons based on statistics of Cluster observations in the Earth's magnetotail from 2001 to 2004. During these years, from June to November, the Cluster spacecraft visited the plasma sheet at the distance r~-19 RE. We use proton and electron moments collected in the central region of the p…
Suprathermal electron acceleration during reconnection onset in the magnetotail
André, M.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V. +1 more
We study one event of reconnection onset associated to a small substorm on 27 September 2006 by using Cluster observations at inter-spacecraft separation of about 10 000 km. We focus on the acceleration of suprathermal electrons during different stages of reconnection. We show that several distinct stages of acceleration occur: (1) moderate accele…
On the nature of particle energization via resonant wave-particle interaction in the inhomogeneous magnetospheric plasma
Shklyar, D. R.
When a quasi-monochromatic wave propagating in an inhomogeneous magnetoplasma has sufficiently large amplitude, there exist phase-trapped resonant particles whose energy increases or decreases depending on the "sign" of inhomogeneity. The variation of energy density of such particles can greatly exceed the wave energy density which contradicts ene…
EISCAT-Cluster observations of quiet-time near-Earth magnetotail fast flows and their signatures in the ionosphere
Nilsson, H.; Kauristie, K.; Amm, O. +3 more
We report observations of a sequence of quiet-time Earthward bursty bulk flows (BBFs) measured by the Cluster spacecraft in the near-tail plasma sheet (XGSM ~ -12 to -14 RE) in the evening sector, and by simultaneous high-resolution measurements in the northern conjugate ionosphere by the EISCAT radars, a MIRACLE all-sky camera and magn…
High-resolution wave number spectrum using multi-point measurements in space - the Multi-point Signal Resonator (MSR) technique
Glassmeier, K. -H.; Narita, Y.; Motschmann, U.
A new analysis method is presented that provides a high-resolution power spectrum in a broad wave number domain based on multi-point measurements. The analysis technique is referred to as the Multi-point Signal Resonator (MSR) and it benefits from Capon's minimum variance method for obtaining the proper power spectral density of the signal as well…
Timing mirror structures observed by Cluster with a magnetosheath flow model
Budnik, E.; Dandouras, I.; Génot, V. +4 more
The evolution of structures associated with mirror modes during their flow in the Earth's magnetosheath is studied. The fact that the related magnetic fluctuations can take distinct shapes, from deep holes to high peaks, has been assessed in previous works on the observational, modeling and numerical points of view. In this paper we present an ana…
Statistical evidence for O+ energization and outflow caused by wave-particle interaction in the high altitude cusp and mantle
Waara, M.; Nilsson, H.; Slapak, R. +3 more
We present a statistical study of the low (<1 Hz) frequency electric and magnetic field spectral densities observed by Cluster spacecraft in the high altitude cusp and mantle region. At the O+ gyrofrequency (0.02-0.5 Hz) for this region the electric field spectral density is on average 0.2-2.2 (mV m-1)2 Hz-…
Cluster observations of trapped ions interacting with magnetosheath mirror modes
Escoubet, C. P.; Soucek, J.
Mirror modes are among the most intense low frequency plasma wave phenomena observed in the magnetosheaths of magnetized planets. They appear as large amplitude non-propagating fluctuations in the magnetic field magnitude and plasma density. These structures are widely accepted to represent a non-linear stage of the mirror instability, dominant in…