Search Publications
Multispacecraft recovery of a magnetic cloud and its origin from magnetic reconnection on the Sun
Luhmann, J. G.; Möstl, C.; Farrugia, C. J. +8 more
Multipoint spacecraft observations of a magnetic cloud on 22 May 2007 have given us the opportunity to apply a multispacecraft technique to infer the structure of this large-scale magnetic flux rope in the solar wind. Combining WIND and STEREO-B magnetic field and plasma measurements, we construct a combined magnetic field map by integrating the G…
Foreshock compressional boundary
Omidi, N.; Blanco-Cano, X.; Sibeck, D. G.
We employ 2.5-D electromagnetic, hybrid simulations that treat ions kinetically via particle-in-cell methods and electrons as a massless fluid to study the formation and properties of a newly discovered boundary named the foreshock compressional boundary (FCB). This boundary forms in the ion foreshock and is associated with enhanced densities and …
Diurnal variations of Titan's ionosphere
Wahlund, J. -E.; Galand, M.; Waite, J. H. +7 more
We present our analysis of the diurnal variations of Titan's ionosphere (between 1000 and 1300 km) based on a sample of Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) measurements in the Open Source Ion (OSI) mode obtained from eight close encounters of the Cassini spacecraft with Titan. Although there is an overall ion depletion well beyond the terminator,…
A mechanism for electrostatic solitary structures in the Earth's magnetosheath
Lakhina, G. S.; Pickett, J. S.; ViñAs, A. F. +3 more
Electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) have been observed in the Earth's magnetosheath region by Cluster. A mechanism for the generation of these structures in terms of electron-acoustic solitons and double layers is discussed. The model simulates the magnetosheath plasma by a four-component plasma system consisting of core electrons, two counterstre…
Steep, transient density gradients in the Martian ionosphere similar to the ionopause at Venus
Gurnett, D. A.; Winningham, J. D.; Frahm, R. A. +3 more
With the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) on the Mars Express (MEX) spacecraft, the electron density can be measured by two methods: from the excitation of local plasma oscillations and from remote sounding. A study of the local electron density versus time for 1664 orbits revealed that in 132 orbits very sharp …
Midlatitude and high-latitude electron density profiles in the ionosphere of Saturn obtained by Cassini radio occultation observations
Nagy, A. F.; Kliore, A. J.; Marouf, E. A. +4 more
Nineteen new radio occultations of the ionosphere of Saturn have been obtained since 2006. Sixteen of these occultations were from midlatitude and high latitudes and thus provided important, new information of the ionosphere for these regions. A high degree of variability in the electron densities were observed, but grouping and averaging the obse…
Source locations of narrowband radio emissions detected at Saturn
Gurnett, D. A.; Hospodarsky, G. B.; Kurth, W. S. +7 more
Since Cassini's arrival at Saturn in 2004, the Radio and Plasma Wave Science instrument has detected numerous narrowband (NB) radio emission events. These emissions, mostly detected around 5 and 20 kHz, usually occur periodically for several days after intensifications of Saturn kilometric radiation. We present calculations based on an electron de…
Spatial structures of magnetic depression in the Earth's high-altitude cusp: Cluster multipoint observations
Zhang, H.; Zong, Q. -G.; Lucek, E. +11 more
Magnetic depression structures (magnetic holes) of short time duration from seconds to minutes have been studied using Cluster data in the high-latitude cusp. Our multispacecraft analysis revealed that the magnetic depressions are spatial structures traveling across the spacecraft, and this result was further strengthened by the calculation of the…
``Geography'' of ion acceleration in the magnetotail: X-line versus current sheet effects
Zelenyi, L. M.; Grigorenko, E. E.; Hoshino, M. +2 more
Field-aligned ion beams are often observed in the Plasma Sheet Boundary Layer (PSBL) of Earth's magnetotail. We studied two types of ion beams observed in the magnetotail at different times. Both types of ion beams are pitch angle-collimated along the magnetic field direction but they differ significantly with the width of ion velocity distributio…
Two-dimensional hybrid simulations of superdiffusion at the magnetopause driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
Cowee, M. M.; Gary, S. P.; Winske, D.
This paper describes the self-consistent simulation of plasma transport across the magnetic field at the magnetopause driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability. Two-dimensional hybrid (kinetic ions, fluid electrons) simulations of the most KH-unstable configuration where the shear flow is oriented perpendicular to the uniform magnetic field are …