Search Publications
A Single Point Method to Quantitatively Diagnose the Magnetotail Flapping Motion
Wei, Y.; Rong, Z. J.; Shen, C. +4 more
Quantitatively estimating magnetotail flapping motion is critical for understanding and characterizing its dynamical behaviors. Such estimation can be achieved in principle by the multipoint analysis of spacecraft tetrahedron, for example, Cluster or MMS mission, but, owing to the inability of single point measurement to separate the spatial tempo…
Re-Analysis of the Cassini RPWS/LP Data in Titan's Ionosphere: 2. Statistics on 57 Flybys
Wahlund, J. -E.; Edberg, N. J. T.; Hadid, L. Z. +5 more
The ionosphere of Titan hosts a complex ion chemistry leading to the formation of organic dust below 1,200 km. Current models cannot fully explain the observed electron temperature in this dusty environment. To achieve new insight, we have re-analyzed the data taken in the ionosphere of Titan by the Cassini Langmuir probe (LP), part of the Radio a…
Hot Plasma in the Magnetotail Lobes Shows Characteristics Consistent With Closed Field Lines Trapped in the Lobes
Coxon, John C.; Fear, Robert C.; Reidy, Jade A. +2 more
We examine the magnetotail using data from the Hot Ion Analyzer on Cluster 1 during 2001-2009. We develop and utilize an algorithm in order to identify times during which Cluster 1 is in the magnetotail lobe but observes plasma, which is hotter than our expectations of the lobe. We analyze the prevailing Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) BZ…
Processes in the Current Disruption Region: From Turbulence to Dispersion Relation
Daly, P. W.; Lui, A. T. Y.; Kronberg, E. A. +2 more
Using measurements from Cluster II space mission, we compared the characteristics of the fluctuations of the magnetic field magnitude and the Bz component in the current disruption (CD) regions. We used fast Fourier transform, statistical, and wavelet analysis, and wave surveyor technique on the multispacecraft measurements. Among the obtained res…
Detailed Structure of Very High-β Earth Bow Shock
Petrukovich, A. A.; Chugunova, O. M.
Observations of Earth's bow shock with high β≥10 (ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure) are rare. However, such shocks are supposed to be ubiquitous in astrophysical plasmas. We present statistics of several tens crossings with β>10 for MMS, Cluster and Geotail, 30 of which have β>30. For the latter subset, most of the crossings reveal upst…
Saturn's Nightside Ring Current During Cassini's Grand Finale
Roussos, E.; Cowley, S. W. H.; Bunce, E. J. +7 more
During Cassini's Grand Finale proximal orbits, the spacecraft traversed the nightside magnetotail to ∼21 Saturn radii. Clear signatures of Saturn's equatorial current sheet are observed in the magnetic field data. An axisymmetric model of the ring current is fitted to these data, amended to take into account the tilt of the current layer by solar …
Ion Convection as a Function of Distance to the Neutral Sheet in Earth's Magnetotail
Hamrin, M.; Pitkänen, T.; Chong, Ghai Siung +1 more
We utilized 33 years of data obtained by the Geotail, THEMIS, Cluster and MMS missions to investigate the slow (<200 km/s) ion flows perpendicular to the magnetic field in Earth's magnetotail plasma sheet. By using plasma β as a proxy of distance to the neutral sheet, we find that the ion flow patterns vary systematically within the plasma shee…
The Field of Shock-Generated Alfven Oscillations Near the Plasmapause
Zong, Q. -G.; Leonovich, A. S.; Kozlov, D. A. +1 more
A theoretical interpretation is given for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) oscillations observed by the GOES and Cluster satellites on November 7, 2004 near the plasmapause (Zong et al., 2009, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009ja014393, https://doi.org/10.10…
Heavy Metal and Rock in Space: Cluster RAPID Observations of Fe and Si
Daly, Patrick W.; Haaland, Stein; Vilenius, Esa
Metallic and silicate ions carry essential information about the evolution of the Earth and near Earth small bodies. Despite this, there has so far been very little focus on ions with atomic masses higher than oxygen in the terrestrial magnetosphere. In this paper, we report on abundances and properties of energetic ions with masses corresponding …
Solar Wind—Magnetosphere Coupling During Radial Interplanetary Magnetic Field Conditions: Simultaneous Multi-Point Observations
Escoubet, C. P.; Lavraud, B.; Fear, R. C. +12 more
In-situ spacecraft missions are powerful assets to study processes that occur in space plasmas. One of their main limitations, however, is extrapolating such local measurements to the global scales of the system. To overcome this problem at least partially, multi-point measurements can be used. There are several multi-spacecraft missions currently…