Search Publications
Reconnection at the magnetopause of Saturn: Perspective from FTE occurrence and magnetosphere size
Lai, H. R.; Russell, C. T.; Wei, H. Y. +2 more
Flux transfer events observed at Mercury, Earth, and Jupiter are attributed to spatially and temporally limited events in which the magnetosheath and magnetospheric magnetic field become interconnected and magnetic flux is transported from the dayside to the lobes of the magnetotail. Examination of the Saturnian magnetopause at local times from 10…
Cassini observations of ion and electron beams at Saturn and their relationship to infrared auroral arcs
Coates, A. J.; Brown, R. H.; Baines, K. H. +14 more
We present Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer observations of infrared auroral emissions from the noon sector of Saturn's ionosphere revealing multiple intense auroral arcs separated by dark regions poleward of the main oval. The arcs are interpreted as the ionospheric signatures of bursts of reconnection occurring at the dayside mag…
Hot and cold ion outflow: Spatial distribution of ion heating
Nilsson, H.; Slapak, R.; André, M. +2 more
Ions apparently emanating from the same source, the ionospheric polar cap, can either end up as energized to keV energies in the high-altitude cusp/mantle, or appear as cold ions in the magnetotail lobes. We use Cluster observations of ions and wave electric fields to study the spatial variation of ion heating in the cusp/mantle and polar cap. The…
Energetic neutral atom observations of magnetic anomalies on the lunar surface
Barabash, S.; Holmström, M.; Futaana, Y. +5 more
SARA, the Sub-KeV Atom Analyzer, on board Chandrayaan-1 recorded the first image of a minimagnetosphere above a lunar magnetic anomaly using energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). It was shown that this magnetosphere, which is located near the Gerasimovich crater, is able to reduce the solar wind ion flux impinging onto the lunar surface by more than 50%…
Oxygen and hydrogen ion abundance in the near-Earth magnetosphere: Statistical results on the response to the geomagnetic and solar wind activity conditions
Dandouras, I.; Daly, P. W.; Kistler, L. M. +4 more
The composition of ions plays a crucial role for the fundamental plasma properties in the terrestrial magnetosphere. We investigate the oxygen-to-hydrogen ratio in the near-Earth magnetosphere from -10 RE < XGSE < 10 RE. The results are based on seven years of ion flux measurements in the energy range ∼10 keV…
Solar cycle variations of the Cluster spacecraft potential and its use for electron density estimations
Fazakerley, A. N.; Trotignon, J. -G.; Haaland, S. +5 more
A sunlit conductive spacecraft, immersed in tenuous plasma, will attain a positive potential relative to the ambient plasma. This potential is primarily governed by solar irradiation, which causes escape of photoelectrons from the surface of the spacecraft, and the electrons in the ambient plasma providing the return current. In this paper we comb…
Nonlinear spatiotemporal evolution of whistler mode chorus waves in Earth's inner magnetosphere
Omura, Yoshiharu; Summers, Danny; Lee, Dong-Hun +1 more
We analyze the nonlinear evolution of whistler mode chorus waves propagating along a magnetic field line from their equatorial source. We solve wave evolution equations off the equator for the wave magnetic field amplitude and wave frequency, subject to boundary conditions at the equator comprising model “chorus equations” that describe the genera…
Wave-particle interaction in a plasmaspheric plume observed by a Cluster satellite
Yuan, Zhigang; Zhou, Meng; Deng, Xiaohua +5 more
The wave-particle interaction is a possible candidate for the energy coupling between the ring current and plasmaspheric plumes. In this paper, we present wave and particle observations made by the Cluster C1 satellite in a plasmaspheric plume in the recovery phase of the geomagnetic storm on 18 July 2005. Cluster C1 simultaneously observed Pc1-2 …
Computing uncertainties in ionosphere-airglow models: II. The Martian airglow
Simon Wedlund, Cyril; Witasse, Olivier; Gronoff, Guillaume +3 more
One of the objectives of spectrometers onboard space missions is to retrieve atmospheric parameters (notably density, composition and temperature). To fulfill this objective, comparisons between observations and model results are necessary. Knowledge of these model uncertainties is therefore necessary, although usually not considered, to estimate …
Spatial distribution of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at low-latitude boundary layer under different solar wind speed conditions
Wang, C.; Guo, X. C.; Li, W. Y.
Using the PPMLR-MHD global simulation model, we examined the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability at the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) under northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions with various solar wind speeds (400, 600, and 800 km/s). The spatial distribution of the K-H wave power in the equatorial plane shows two distinct p…