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Global structure of Jupiter's magnetospheric current sheet
Khurana, Krishan K.; Schwarzl, Hannes K.
Jupiter's magnetosphere contains a gigantic sheet-like structure located near its dipole magnetic equator that contains most of the plasma and energetic particles swirling in Jupiter's magnetosphere. Called the "current sheet," it behaves like a rigid structure inside a radial distance of ∼50 RJ where the periodic reversals of the B
Solar wind control of the radial distance of the magnetic reconnection site in the magnetotail
Nakamura, R.; Fujimoto, M.; Baumjohann, W. +6 more
To understand magnetotail dynamics, it is essential to determine where magnetic reconnection takes place in the near-Earth magnetotail during substorms. The Geotail spacecraft thoroughly surveyed the near-Earth plasma sheet at radial distances of 10-31 RE during the years 1995-2003. Thirty-four clear reconnection events were identified …
Characteristics of the interplanetary coronal mass ejections in the heliosphere between 0.3 and 5.4 AU
Wang, C.; Richardson, J. D.; Du, D.
We identify and characterize interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) observed by spacecraft in the solar wind, namely Helios 1 and 2, PVO, ACE, and Ulysses, which together cover heliocentric distances from 0.3 to 5.4 AU. The primary identification signature used to look for ICMEs is abnormally low proton temperatures. About 600 probable ICME…
Acceleration and transport of heavy ions at coronal mass ejection-driven shocks
Li, Gang; Zank, G. P.; Rice, W. K. M.
It is now widely accepted that large solar energetic particle (SEP) events are associated with coronal mass ejection (CME)-driven shocks. Here, particles are often accelerated to approximately MeV energies (and perhaps up to GeV energies) at shock waves driven by CMEs. In this paper, on the basis of our earlier work, we present a detailed model wh…
A self-consistent model of plasma and neutrals at Saturn: Neutral cloud morphology
Jurac, S.; Richardson, J. D.
We present a model of the plasma and neutral environment that treats plasma and neutrals self-consistently, using Voyager plasma and ultraviolet H observations and Hubble Space Telescope OH measurements as constraints. The neutral distributions are determined with a Monte Carlo model, and the plasma distributions are determined with a diffusive tr…
Variable morphology of Saturn's southern ultraviolet aurora
Clarke, J. T.; Cowley, S. W. H.; Bunce, E. J. +2 more
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph camera on board Hubble Space Telescope obtained 68 FUV images of Saturn's southern auroral emission between 8 and 30 January 2004, during Cassini's approach to Saturn's magnetosphere. The HST observations took place in four different solar wind regimes with a low-field rarefaction region from 8 to 16 Januar…
Open flux estimates in Saturn's magnetosphere during the January 2004 Cassini-HST campaign, and implications for reconnection rates
Milan, S. E.; Badman, S. V.; Clarke, J. T. +4 more
During 8-30 January 2004, a sequence of 68 UV images of Saturn's southern aurora was obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), coordinated for the first time with measurements of the upstream interplanetary conditions made by the Cassini spacecraft. Using the poleward edge of the observed aurora as a proxy for the open-closed field line bounda…
Radial variations in the Io plasma torus during the Cassini era
Delamere, P. A.; Bagenal, F.; Steffl, A.
A radial scan through the midnight sector of the Io plasma torus was made by the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph on 14 January 2001, shortly after closest approach to Jupiter. From these data, Steffl et al. (2004a) derived electron temperature, plasma composition (ion mixing ratios), and electron column density as a function of radius fro…
Cluster observations of traveling compression regions in the near-tail
Balogh, A.; Glassmeier, K. -H.; Owen, C. J. +6 more
Examination of Cluster measurements has revealed the presence of traveling compression regions (TCRs) in the lobes of the Earth's magnetotail at X ∼ -11-19 RE. These TCRs strongly resemble those observed in the more distant tail, but their mean duration is only ∼35 s as compared with ∼160 s for the TCRs in the distant tail. Furthermore,…
Characteristics of the magnetosheath electron boundary layer under northward interplanetary magnetic field: Implications for high-latitude reconnection
Balogh, A.; Thomsen, M. F.; Lavraud, B. +7 more
We analyze Cluster data to explore the statistical properties of the magnetosheath electron boundary layer, observed outside the high-latitude dayside magnetopause, under northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We investigate the dependence of the presence and directionality of heated magnetosheath electrons in this layer on the geomagnetic…