Search Publications
Energetic electron bursts in the plasma sheet and their relation with BBFs
Cao, J. B.; Dunlop, M.; Wang, Z. Q. +1 more
We studied energetic electron bursts (EEBs) (40-250 keV) in the plasma sheet (PS) and their relation to bursty bulk flows (BBFs) using the data recorded by Cluster from 2001 to 2009. The EEBs in the PS can be classified into four types. Three types of EEBs are dispersionless, including EEBs accompanied with BBFs (V > 250 km/s) but without dipol…
Terrestrial lion roars and non-Maxwellian distribution
Schwartz, S. J.; Yoon, P. H.; Masood, W. +3 more
Lion roars are low-frequency (∼100 Hz) whistler waves frequently observed in the Earth's magnetosheath. By analyzing both wave and electron data from the Cluster spacecraft, and comparing with linear Vlasov kinetic theory, Masood et al. (2006) investigated the underlying cause of the lion roar generation. However, the analysis based upon the bi-Ma…
Oblique electron fire hose instability: Particle-in-cell simulations
Hellinger, Petr; Trávníček, Pavel M.; Decyk, Victor K. +1 more
Nonlinear properties of the oblique resonant electron fire hose instability are investigated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in the Darwin approximation for weak initial growth rates. The weak electron fire hose instability has a self-destructive nonlinear behavior; it destabilizes a nonpropagating branch which only exists for a…
Whistler mode waves at magnetotail dipolarization fronts
André, M.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V. +3 more
We report the statistics of whistler mode waves observed in relation to dipolarization fronts (DFs) in Earth's magnetotail using data from the four Cluster spacecraft spanning a period of 9 years, 2001-2009. We show that whistler mode waves are common in a vicinity of DFs: between 30 and 60% of all DFs are associated with whistlers. Whistlers are …
The location of magnetic reconnection at Saturn's magnetopause: A comparison with Earth
Frahm, R.; Masters, A.; Fuselier, S. A. +4 more
Data from the Cassini Electron Spectrometer are used to investigate the location of magnetic reconnection at Saturn's magnetopause. Heated, streaming electron distributions in the boundary layer on the magnetosheath side of the magnetopause are evidence of reconnection and an open magnetopause. A model for the location of reconnection is used to c…
EMHD theory and observations of electron solitary waves in magnetotail plasmas
Pu, Zu-Yin; Xiao, Chi-Jie; Shi, Quan-Qi +4 more
A new approach of electron magnetohydrodynamics (EMHD) is developed by including the anisotropy of the electron pressure tensor to take Biermann battery effect into account. Based on the model, the dispersion relation of slow and fast electron magnetosonic modes are derived. A Korteweg-de Vries equation is then obtained from the wave equation to g…
Spatial variation in the plasma sheet composition: Dependence on geomagnetic and solar activity
Kistler, L. M.; Maggiolo, R.
We study the spatial distribution of plasma sheet O+ and H+ ions using data from the COmposition and DIstribution Function (CODIF) instrument on board the Cluster spacecraft from 2001 to 2005. The densities are mapped along magnetic field lines to produce bidimensional density maps at the magnetospheric equatorial plane for v…
Mapping the electron energy in Jupiter's aurora: Hubble spectral observations
Bonfond, B.; Clarke, J. T.; Waite, J. H. +6 more
Far ultraviolet spectral observations have been made with the Hubble Space Telescope in the time-tag mode using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) long slit. The telescope was slewed in such a way that the slit projection scanned from above the polar limb down to midlatitudes, allowing us to build up the first spectral maps of the FUV…
A "breathing" source surface for cycles 23 and 24
Sun, X.; Arden, W. M.; Norton, A. A.
The potential field source surface (PFSS) model is used to represent the large-scale geometry of the solar coronal magnetic fields. The height of the source surface in this model can be taken as a free parameter. Previous work suggests that varying the source surface height during periods of solar minimum yields better agreement between PFSS model…
Full-halo coronal mass ejections: Arrival at the Earth
Wang, Yuming; Shen, Chenglong; Wang, S. +3 more
A geomagnetic storm is mainly caused by a frontside coronal mass ejection (CME) hitting the Earth and then interacting with the magnetosphere. However, not all frontside CMEs can hit the Earth. Thus, which CMEs hit the Earth and when they do so are important issues in the study and forecasting of space weather. In our previous work, the deprojecte…