Search Publications
Cluster and DMSP observations of SAID electric fields
Lucek, E.; Khotyaintsev, Y.; Kistler, L. +5 more
We report on magnetically conjugate Cluster and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite observations of subauroral ion drifts (SAID) during moderate geomagnetic activity levels on 8 April 2004. To our knowledge, the field-aligned separation of DMSP and Cluster (≈28,000 km) is the largest separation ever analyzed with respect …
Electrostatic structure around spacecraft in tenuous plasmas
Eriksson, A. I.; Cully, C. M.; Ergun, R. E.
Most satellite-based in situ plasma experiments are affected in some manner by the electrostatic structure surrounding the spacecraft. In order to better understand this structure, we have developed a fully three-dimensional self-consistent model that can accept realistic spacecraft geometry, including both thin (∼10-4 m) wires and long…
Taylor scale and effective magnetic Reynolds number determination from plasma sheet and solar wind magnetic field fluctuations
Walker, R. J.; Dasso, S.; Matthaeus, W. H. +2 more
Cluster data from many different intervals in the magnetospheric plasmas sheet and the solar wind are employed to determine the magnetic Taylor microscale from simultaneous multiple point measurements. For this study we define the Taylor scale as the square root of the ratio of the mean square magnetic field (or velocity) fluctuations to the mean …
Electron dynamics and cross-shock potential at the quasi-perpendicular Earth's bow shock
Lefebvre, Bertrand; Schwartz, Steven J.; Fazakerley, Andrew F. +1 more
The evolution of the electron distribution function through quasi-perpendicular collisionless shocks is believed to be dominated by the electron dynamics in the large-scale coherent and quasi-stationary magnetic and electric fields. We investigate the electron distributions measured on board Cluster by the Plasma Electron and Current Experiment (P…
Polar wind outflow model: Saturn results
Gombosi, T. I.; Toth, G.; Ridley, A. J. +3 more
The Saturnian system's configuration and dynamics are to a large extent controlled by the planet's rapid rotation and the plasma in the magnetosphere. Therefore characterizing the relative importance of the various plasma sources is crucial to understanding Saturn's magnetosphere. Most research in this area focuses on the addition of mass from the…
Cluster observations in the inner magnetosphere during the 18 April 2002 sawtooth event: Dipolarization and injection at r = 4.6 RE
Lucek, E. A.; Frey, H. U.; Lui, A. T. Y. +9 more
The present study examines a sawtooth injection event that took place around 0800 UT on 18 April 2002 when the Cluster spacecraft were located in the inner magnetosphere in the premidnight sector. In association with this injection, Cluster, at a radial distance of 4.6 R E , observed that the local magnetic field became more dipolar an…
Hemisphere coupling in Enceladus' asymmetric plasma interaction
Saur, Joachim; Neubauer, Fritz M.; Schilling, Nico
The recently discovered neutral gas plume around the south pole of Enceladus introduces a pronounced north-south asymmetry in the plasma interaction of Saturn's magnetosphere with Enceladus. In this work we present an analytic model for such an asymmetric interaction for both an Alfvénic and a unipolar inductor far field model including the Hall e…
Spatial-Temporal characteristics of ion beamlets in the plasma sheet boundary layer of magnetotail
Grigorenko, Elena E.; Zelenyi, Lev M.; Sauvaud, Jean-Andre
The processes of nonadiabatic ion acceleration occurring in the vicinity of magnetic neutral lines produce highly accelerated (up to 2500 km/s) field-aligned ion beams (beamlets) with transient appearance streaming earthward in the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) of the Earth's magnetotail. Previous studies of these phenomena based on single sp…
Reconstruction of a bipolar magnetic signature in an earthward jet in the tail: Flux rope or 3D guide-field reconnection?
RèMe, H.; Khotyaintsev, Y.; Hasegawa, H. +4 more
Southward-then-northward magnetic perturbations are often seen in the tail plasma sheet, along with earthward jets, but the generation mechanism of such bipolar Bz (magnetic flux rope created through multiple X-line reconnection, transient reconnection, or else) has been controversial. At ∼2313 UT on 13 August 2002, Cluster encountered …
Characteristics of terrestrial foreshock ULF waves: Cluster observations
RèMe, H.; Nilsson, H.; Walker, S. N. +4 more
ULF waves in the terrestrial foreshock observed simultaneously by the four Cluster satellites were analyzed to identify the plasma wave modes and to study the effect of plasma beta on the intrinsic wave properties. The wave properties in the spacecraft and solar wind frames, such as the wave frequency, total wave number, phase speed, and wave pola…