Search Publications
The heavy ion diffusion region in magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail
Kistler, L. M.; Mouikis, C. G.; Wang, S. +3 more
While the plasma in the Earth's magnetotail predominantly consists of protons and electrons, there are times when a significant amount of oxygen is present. When magnetic reconnection occurs, the behavior of these heavy ions can be significantly different from that of the protons, due to their larger gyroradius. In this study, we investigate the h…
Characteristics of ice grains in the Enceladus plume from Cassini observations
Ye, S. -Y.; Dong, Y.; Hill, T. W.
Ice grains in the Enceladus plume have been observed by several Cassini instruments during many Enceladus encounters. In this paper we study the ice grains ranging from less than one nanometer to micrometers in size based on multiple instrument observations. We have analyzed the nanograin data from the E17 and E18 Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS…
Analysis of a coronal mass ejection and corotating interaction region as they travel from the Sun passing Venus, Earth, Mars, and Saturn
Harra, L. K.; Arridge, C. S.; Matthews, S. A. +2 more
During June 2010 a good alignment in the solar system between Venus, STEREO-B, Mars, and Saturn provided an excellent opportunity to study the propagation of a coronal mass ejection (CME) and closely occurring corotating interaction region (CIR) from the Sun to Saturn. The CME erupted from the Sun at 01:30 UT on 20 June 2010,with v≈ 600 km s-…
Distribution of energetic oxygen and hydrogen in the near-Earth plasma sheet
Delcourt, D. C.; Dandouras, I.; Daly, P. W. +5 more
The spatial distributions of different ion species are useful indicators for plasma sheet dynamics. In this statistical study based on 7 years of Cluster observations, we establish the spatial distributions of oxygen ions and protons at energies from 274 to 955 keV, depending on geomagnetic and solar wind (SW) conditions. Compared with protons, th…
The calculation of moment uncertainties from velocity distribution functions with random errors
Gershman, Daniel J.; Pollock, Craig J.; Dorelli, John C. +1 more
Instrumentation that detects individual plasma particles is susceptible to random counting errors. These errors propagate into the calculations of moments of measured particle velocity distribution functions. Although rules of thumb exist for the effects of random errors on the calculation of lower order moments (e.g., density, velocity, and tempe…
Internally driven large-scale changes in the size of Saturn's magnetosphere
Coates, A. J.; Dougherty, M. K.; Thomsen, M. F. +7 more
Saturn's magnetic field acts as an obstacle to solar wind flow, deflecting plasma around the planet and forming a cavity known as the magnetosphere. The magnetopause defines the boundary between the planetary and solar dominated regimes, and so is strongly influenced by the variable nature of pressure sources both outside and within. Following fro…
Electrostatic solitary waves observed at Saturn by Cassini inside 10 Rs and near Enceladus
Gurnett, D. A.; Pickett, J. S.; Jones, G. H. +5 more
We have analyzed the Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science Wideband Receiver (WBR) data specifically looking for the presence of bipolar electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs). Typical examples of these ESWs are provided to show that when they are present, several of them may be detected over a few to several millisecond time span. We carried out an …
Total electron content in the Martian atmosphere: A critical assessment of the Mars Express MARSIS data sets
Gurnett, D. A.; Lester, M.; Morgan, D. D. +14 more
The total electron content (TEC) is one of the most useful parameters to evaluate the behavior of the Martian ionosphere because it contains information on the total amount of free electrons, the main component of the Martian ionospheric plasma. The Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) radar is able to d…
Kinetic simulations of secondary reconnection in the reconnection jet
Sahraoui, F.; Aunai, N.; Deng, X. H. +8 more
Magnetic reconnection, as one important energy dissipation process in plasmas, has been extensively studied in the past several decades. Magnetic reconnection occurring in the downstream of a primary X line is referred to as secondary reconnection. In this paper, we used kinetic simulations to investigate the secondary reconnection in detail. We f…
North-south asymmetry in global distribution of the solar wind speed during 1985-2013
Tokumaru, Munetoshi; Fujiki, Ken'ichi; Iju, Tomoya
Interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations made between 1985 and 2013 are used to investigate the north-south (N-S) asymmetry in global distribution of the solar wind speed. The IPS observations clearly demonstrate that the global distribution of the solar wind speed systematically changes with the solar activity. This change is found to clos…