Search Publications
Locating dayside magnetopause reconnection with exhaust ion distributions
Fuselier, S. A.; Trattner, K. J.; Broll, J. M.
Magnetic reconnection at Earth's dayside magnetopause is essential to magnetospheric dynamics. Determining where reconnection takes place is important to understanding the processes involved, and many questions about reconnection location remain unanswered. We present a method for locating the magnetic reconnection X line at Earth's dayside magnet…
Whistler Mode Waves Below Lower Hybrid Resonance Frequency: Generation and Spectral Features
Balikhin, M. A.; Shklyar, D. R.
Equatorial noise in the frequency range below the lower hybrid resonance frequency, whose structure is shaped by high proton cyclotron harmonics, has been observed by the Cluster spacecraft. We develop a model of this wave phenomenon which assumes (as, in general, has been suggested long ago) that the observed spectrum is excited due to loss cone …
Statistical study of polar negative magnetic bays driven by interplanetary fast-mode shocks
Liou, Kan; Sotirelis, Thomas; Gjerloev, Jesper
The question of whether an interplanetary (IP) fast-mode shock can trigger the substorm expansion is still not resolved. Some scientists believe that the substorm expansion can be triggered by a sudden compression of the magnetosphere if a substorm growth phase is in progress (e.g., the magnetosphere precondition hypothesis). Such a hypothesis has…
Magnetically controlled density structures in the topside layer of the Martian ionosphere
Venkateswara Rao, N.; Mohanamanasa, P.; Rao, S. V. B.
Magnetically controlled density structures in the main layer of the Martian ionosphere are regularly detected by the Mars Advance Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounder (MARSIS) on board the Mars Express spacecraft when it passes over the regions of strong crustal magnetic fields. These structures appear as oblique echoes in an ionogram and …
Statistical study of the alteration of the magnetic structure of magnetic clouds in the Earth's magnetosheath
Escoubet, C. P.; Kilpua, E. K. J.; Turc, L. +2 more
The magnetosheath plays a central role in the solar wind-magnetospheric coupling. Yet the effects of its crossing on solar wind structures such as magnetic clouds (MCs) are generally overlooked when assessing their geoeffectivity. Using 82 MCs observed simultaneously in the solar wind and the magnetosheath, we carry out the first statistical study…
Comparative study of three reconnection X line models at the Earth's dayside magnetopause using in situ observations
Walsh, B. M.; Sibeck, D. G.; Gonzalez, W. D. +3 more
This work examines the large-scale aspects of magnetic field reconnection at the Earth's dayside magnetopause. We use two sets of reconnection events, which are identified mostly by the in situ detection of accelerated and Alfvénic plasma flows. We intercompare three analytical models that predict the reconnection X line location and orientation, …
Multi-instrument observation of simultaneous polar cap auroras on open and closed magnetic field lines
Lester, M.; Fear, R. C.; Zhang, Y. +5 more
This paper presents observations of polar cap auroral features on 19 January 2008, evaluated using multiple instruments with near-simultaneous observations in both hemispheres. Analysis of the features indicates that there are at least two formation mechanisms/types of polar cap aurora occurring simultaneously on different magnetic field topologie…
Current sheets in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's coma
Coates, A. J.; Jones, G. H.; Glassmeier, K. -H. +16 more
The Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC) data are used to investigate the presence of current sheets in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The interaction of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) transported by the solar wind toward the outgassing comet consists amongst others of mass loading and field line draping near the nucleus. The dra…
Coronal mass ejections and solar wind mass fluxes over the heliosphere during solar cycles 23 and 24 (1996-2014)
Lamy, P.; Quémerais, E.; Floyd, O. +2 more
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) play a major role in the heliosphere, and their contribution to the solar wind mass flux, already considered in the Skylab and Solwind eras with conflicting results, is reexamined in the light of 19 years (1996-2014) of SOHO observations with the Large Angle and Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO-C2) for the CMEs and ex…
Coherently modulated whistler mode waves simultaneously observed over unexpectedly large spatial scales
Ma, Qianli; Li, Jinxing; Kletzing, Craig A. +10 more
Utilizing simultaneous twin Van Allen Probes observations of whistler mode waves at variable separations, we are able to distinguish the temporal variations from spatial variations, determine the coherence spatial scale, and suggest the possible mechanism of wave modulation. The two probes observed coherently modulated whistler mode waves simultan…