Search Publications
Mars' Ionopause: A Matter of Pressures
Holmstrom, Mats; Sánchez-Cano, Beatriz; Mayyasi, Majd +8 more
This study assesses under what circumstances the Martian ionopause is formed on the dayside, both in regions where there are strong crustal magnetic fields and areas where these fields are small (<30 nT). Multiple data sets from three MAVEN dayside deep dip campaigns are utilized between periapsis and 600-1,000 km, as well as solar wind observa…
Evolution of a Long-Duration Coronal Mass Ejection and Its Sheath Region Between Mercury and Earth on 9-14 July 2013
Farrugia, C. J.; Lugaz, N.; Winslow, R. M.
Using in situ measurements and remote-sensing observations, we study a coronal mass ejection (CME) that left the Sun on 9 July 2013 and impacted both Mercury and Earth while the planets were in radial alignment (within 3∘). The CME had an initial speed as measured by coronagraphs of 580 ± 20 km/s, an inferred speed at Mercury of 580 ± 30 km/s, and…
20 Years of ACE Data: How Superposed Epoch Analyses Reveal Generic Features in Interplanetary CME Profiles
Auchère, F.; Démoulin, P.; Dasso, S. +4 more
Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are magnetic structures propagating from the Sun's corona to the interplanetary medium. With over 20 years of observations at the L1 libration point, ACE offers hundreds of ICMEs detected at different times during several solar cycles and with different features such as the propagation speed. We invest…
Magnetic Reconnection Inside a Flux Rope Induced by Kelvin-Helmholtz Vortices
Liu, Y.; Russell, C. T.; Escoubet, C. P. +23 more
On 5 May 2017, MMS observed a crater-type flux rope on the dawnside tailward magnetopause with fluctuations. The boundary-normal analysis shows that the fluctuations can be attributed to nonlinear Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves. Reconnection signatures such as flow reversals and Joule dissipation were identified at the leading and trailing edges of t…
The Influence of Spacecraft Charging on Low-Energy Ion Measurements Made by RPC-ICA on Rosetta
Stenberg Wieser, Gabriella; Wieser, Martin; Eriksson, Anders +2 more
Spacecraft charging is problematic for low-energy plasma measurements. The charged particles are attracted to or repelled from the charged spacecraft, affecting both the energy and direction of travel of the particles. The Ion Composition Analyzer (RPC-ICA) on board the Rosetta spacecraft is suffering from this effect. RPC-ICA was measuring positi…
Reconnection- and Dipolarization-Driven Auroral Dawn Storms and Injections
Bonfond, B.; Vogt, M. F.; Mauk, B. H. +8 more
Jupiter displays many distinct auroral structures, among which auroral dawn storms and auroral injections are often observed contemporaneously. However, it is unclear if the contemporaneous nature of the observations is a coincidence or part of an underlying physical connection. We show six clear examples from a recent Hubble Space Telescope campa…
Do Statistical Models Capture the Dynamics of the Magnetopause During Sudden Magnetospheric Compressions?
Wild, J. A.; Milan, S. E.; Imber, S. M. +9 more
Under periods of strong solar wind driving, the magnetopause can become compressed, playing a significant role in draining electrons from the outer radiation belt. Also termed "magnetopause shadowing," this loss process has traditionally been attributed to a combination of magnetospheric compression and outward radial diffusion of electrons. Howev…
Electron Pitch-Angle Distribution in Earth's Magnetotail: Pancake, Cigar, Isotropy, Butterfly, and Rolling-Pin
Wang, Z.; Xu, Y.; Chen, G. +4 more
Electron pitch-angle distributions, including isotropy, pancake, cigar, butterfly, and recently discovered rolling-pin distributions, are crucial to understanding electron dynamics in the magnetotail. However, occurrence rates of these distributions remain unclear. Here, for the first time, we reveal the occurrence rates of these distributions in …
Effects of Fluctuating Magnetic Field on the Growth of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability at the Earth's Magnetopause
Hasegawa, H.; Nakamura, R.; Narita, Y. +5 more
At the Earth's magnetopause, the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability, driven by the persistent velocity shear between the magnetosheath and the magnetosphere, has been frequently observed during northward interplanetary magnetic field periods and considered as one of the most important candidates for transporting and mixing plasmas across the magnet…
Comparisons Between Jupiter's X-ray, UV and Radio Emissions and In-Situ Solar Wind Measurements During 2007
Jackman, C. M.; Lamy, L.; Branduardi-Raymont, G. +21 more
We compare Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray observations of Jupiter during 2007 with a rich multi-instrument data set including upstream in situ solar wind measurements from the New Horizons spacecraft, radio emissions from the Nançay Decametric Array and Wind/Waves, and ultraviolet (UV) observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. New Horizons data …