Search Publications
Modeling of Possible Plume Mechanisms on Europa
Wurz, Peter; Vorburger, Audrey
Plumes spewing water high above Europa's surface have been inferred from several observation campaigns in the past decade. Whereas the occasional existence of plumes on Europa has thus been confirmed, the origin of the plumes remains uncertain. Most notably, it is still unclear whether the inferred plumes are of oceanic origin, possibly containing…
Ion Outflow and Escape in the Terrestrial Magnetosphere: Cluster Advances
Dandouras, Iannis
Cluster was the first mission in the terrestrial magnetosphere to involve four spacecraft in a tetrahedral configuration, providing three-dimensional measurements of the space plasma parameters. Cluster was also equipped with a very comprehensive instrumentation, allowing the measurement of the ion populations outflowing from the ionosphere, their…
Jupiter's Auroral Radio Emissions Observed by Cassini: Rotational Versus Solar Wind Control, and Components Identification
Cecconi, B.; Lamy, L.; Zarka, P. +5 more
Reanalyzing Cassini radio observations performed during Jupiter's flyby of 2000-2001, we study the internal (rotational) versus external (solar wind) control of Jupiter's radio emissions, from kilometer to decameter wavelengths, and the relations between the different auroral radio components. For that purpose, we build a database of the occurrenc…
Cluster After 20 Years of Operations: Science Highlights and Technical Challenges
Escoubet, C. P.; Bogdanova, Y. V.; Goldstein, M. L. +7 more
The Cluster mission was the first constellation using four identical spacecraft to study Sun-Earth connection plasma processes. Using four spacecraft in a tetrahedron shape, it could measure, for the first time, 3D quantities such as electrical currents, plasma gradients or divergence of the electron pressure tensor and 3D structures such as bound…
Propagation of Ultralow Frequency Waves from the Ion Foreshock into the Magnetosphere During the Passage of a Magnetic Cloud
Pfau-Kempf, Yann; Ganse, Urs; Battarbee, Markus +12 more
We have examined the properties of ultralow frequency (ULF) waves in space (the ion foreshock, magnetosheath, and magnetosphere) and at dayside magnetometer stations (L = 1.6-6.5) during Earth's encounter with a magnetic cloud in the solar wind, which is characterized by magnetic fields with large magnitudes (∼14 nT) and small cone angles (∼30°). …
Reconstructing Substorms via Historical Data Mining: Is It Really Feasible?
Sitnov, M. I.; Tsyganenko, N. A.; Stephens, G. K. +4 more
The evolution of the low-latitude magnetosphere over the substorm cycle is reconstructed based on a new high-resolution 3D representation of the magnetic field and nearest-neighbor data mining. The study covers radial distances 2.5-25 RE and employs a record-large pool of spacecraft data taken during 1995-2019. The magnetospheric state …
An Explanation of the Nightside Ionospheric Structure of Venus
Brecht, Stephen H.; Ledvina, Stephen A.
Hybrid simulations of Venus have produced nightside structure. It is believed these are the first simulations to produce the structure reported by spacecraft such as the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO). The simulations reveal that the structure is created by the ▽Pe ambipolar electric field when it aligns with local IMF (interplanetary magn…
Interaction of Space Weather Phenomena with Mars Plasma Environment During Solar Minimum 23/24
Fedorov, A.; Nilsson, H.; Sánchez-Cano, B. +5 more
We study the interaction of three solar wind (SW) structures, two stream interaction regions, and one interplanetary coronal mass ejection, with Mars' plasma environment during November 20-27, 2007. This period corresponds to the solar minimum between the solar cycles 23 and 24 which was characterized by very low values of the SW density and dynam…
A Review of Electrostatic Solitary Wave Research From the Cluster Mission
Pickett, J. S.
A review of the advancements in the knowledge of electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) made with data obtained by the four satellite Cluster mission, after 20 years in orbit, is presented. ESWs are nonlinear solitary waves or structures observed in high time resolution waveform data. The ESW pulses are the wave data representation of electron or ion…
Tangent Directions of the Cusp Boundary Derived From the Simulated Soft X Ray Image
Wang, Chi; Sun, Tianran; Wang, Xue
The magnetospheric cusp plays an essential role in mass and energy transportation from the solar wind to the geo space environment. Recent development of the X ray imaging technique makes it possible to study the large scale properties of the cusp region from a global view. As the detected X ray signals will be integrated along the line of sight (…