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NASA NTRS2014

A Tailward Moving Current Sheet Normal Magnetic Field Front Followed by an Earthward Moving Dipolarization Front

A case study is presented using measurements from the Cluster spacecraft and ground-based magnetometers that show a substorm onset propagating from the inner to outer plasma sheet. On 3 October 2005, Cluster, traversing an ion-scale current sheet at the near-Earth plasma sheet, detected a sudden enhancement of Bz, which was immediately followed by a series of flux rope structures. Both the local Bz enhancement and flux ropes propagated tailward. Approximately 5 min later, another Bz enhancement, followed by a large density decrease, was observed to rapidly propagate earthward. Between the two Bz enhancements, a significant removal of magnetic flux occurred, possibly resulting from the tailward moving Bz enhancement and flux ropes. In our scenario, this flux removal caused the magnetotail to be globally stretched so that the thinnest sheet formed tailward of Cluster. The thinned current sheet facilitated magnetic reconnection that quickly evolved from plasma sheet to lobe and generated the later earthward moving dipolarization front (DF) followed by a reduction in density and entropy. Ground magnetograms located near the meridian of Cluster's magnetic foot points show two-step bay enhancements. The positive bay associated with the first Bz enhancement indicates that the substorm onset signatures propagated from the inner to the outer plasma sheet, consistent with the Cluster observation. The more intense bay features associated with the later DF are consistent with the earthward motion of the front. The event suggests that current disruption signatures that originated in the near-Earth current sheet propagated tailward, triggering or facilitating midtail reconnection, thereby preconditioning the magnetosphere for a later strong substorm enhancement.

Dipolarization Front↗

NASA NTRS2012

Observations of How Magnetofluid Turbulence Dissipates at Small Scales

The solar wind is a turbulent magneto fluid that can be studied intensively at multiple scales. Investigations using single spacecraft have revealed much about the properties of the solar wind throughout the heliosphere (from 0.3 AU to 100 AU). More recently, data from multiple spacecraft have provided further details of both the statistical properties of the turbulence and its small-scale structure. In particular, high time resolution magnetic field measurements from the four Cluster spacecrafl have led to the conclusion that at spatial scales of order the proton inertial length and smaller, the turbulence becomes strongly anisotropic and the power in fluctuations that are perpendicular to the (local) magnetic field is measured to be much larger than that in fluctuations that are parallel to the magnetic field. As the spatial scales approach the electron inertial length, the power is almost completely dissipated. Various analysis techniques and theoretical ideas have been put forward to account for the properties of those measurements. The talk will describe the current state of observations, theory and simulations.

Goldstein, M. L.↗

NASA NTRS2008

How Ionospheric Ions Populate the Magnetosphere during a Magnetic Storm

Ionospheric oxygen ions have been observed throughout the magnetosphere, from the plasma sheet to the ring current region. I t has been found that the O+ /H+ density ratio in the magnetosphere increases with geomagnetic activity and varies with storm phases. During the magnetic storm in late September to earIy October 2002, Cluster was orbiting in the plasma sheet and ring current regions. At prestorm time, Cluster observed high H+ density and low O+ density in the plasma sheet and lobes. During the storm main phase, 0+ density has increased by 10 times over the pre-storm level. Strong field-aligned beams of O+ were observed in the lobes. O+ fluxes were significantly reduced in the central plasma sheet during the storm recovery. However, 0+ was still evident on the boundaries of the plasma sheet and in the lobes. In order to interpret the Cluster observations and to understand how O+ ions populate the magnetosphere during a magnetic storm, we model the storm in early October 2002 using our global ion kinetic simulation (GIK). We use the LFN global simulation model to produce electric and magnetic fields in the outer magnetosphere, the Strangeway outflow scaling with Delcourt ion trajectories to include ionospheric outflows, and the Fok inner magnetospheric model for the plasmaspheric and ring current response to all particle populations. We find that the observed composition features are qualitatively reproduced by the simulations, with some quantitative differences that point to future improvements in the models.

Fok, Mei-Ching↗

NASA NTRS1990

Observation and theory of Pc 5 waves with harmonically related transverse and compressional components

The properties of 23 magnetic pulsation events observed by the AMPTE CCE spacecraft are studied. These events are selected on the basis of the field magnitude which oscillated at the second harmonic of a simultaneously present transverse oscillation. The events have a second harmonic period of 80-600 s (roughly the Pc 5 range), are observed in cluster in the dawn (0300-0800 magnetic local time, MLT) and dusk (1600-2100 MLT) sectors, and are localized near the magnetic equator. Although the azimuthal wave number estimated from an ion finite Larmor radius effect, is generally large (about 50), there is a marked difference between the events observed in the dawn and dusk sectors. In the dawn sector the waves have low frequencies (1-5 mHz), indicate left-hand polarization with respect to the ambient magnetic field, and propagate eastward with respect to the spacecraft. In the dusk sector the waves have high frequencies (5-15 mHz), indicate right-hand polarization, and propagate westward. It is suggested that the waves are all westward propagating in the plasma rest frame and that local-time-dependent Doppler shift is the reason for the local time dependence of the wave properties.

Takahashi, K.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Dynamic Harris current sheet thickness from Cluster current density and plasma measurements

We use the first accurate measurements of current densities in the plasma sheet to calculate the half-thickness and position of the current sheet as a function of time. Our technique assumes a Harris current sheet model, which is parameterized by lobe magnetic field B(o), current sheet half-thickness h, and current sheet position z(sub o). Cluster measurements of magnetic field, current density, and plasma pressure are used to infer the three parameters as a function of time. We find that most long timescale (6-12 hours) current sheet crossings observed by Cluster cannot be described by a static Harris current sheet with a single set of parameters B(sub o), h, and z(sub o). Noting the presence of high-frequency fluctuations that appear to be superimposed on lower frequency variations, we average over running 6-min intervals and use the smoothed data to infer the parameters h(t) and z(sub o)(t), constrained by the pressure balance lobe magnetic field B(sub o)(t). Whereas this approach has been used in previous studies, the spatial gnuhen& now provided by the Cluster magnetometers were unavailable or not well constrained in earlier studies. We place the calculated hdf&cknessa in a magnetospheric context by examining the change in thickness with substorm phase for three case study events and 21 events in a superposed epoch analysis. We find that the inferred half-thickness in many cases reflects the nominal changes experienced by the plasma sheet during substorms (i.e., thinning during growth phase, thickening following substorm onset). We conclude with an analysis of the relative contribution of (Delta)B(sub z)/(Delta)X to the cross-tail current density during substorms. We find that (Delta)B(sub z)/(Delta)X can contribute a significant portion of the cross-tail c m n t around substorm onset.

Thompson, S. M.↗

NASA NTRS1991

On magnetothermal instability in cluster cooling flows

Lagrangian techniques appropriate to a local calculation are used to show that a weak ordered magnetic field can result in a generic condensational mode in cluster cooling flows. However, thermal instability appears possible only if the conductivity is well below its Spitzer value, for all nonradial wavenumbers. Wavenumbers not subject to conductive damping are subject to buoyant oscillations. It is shown that when instability is present, lateral magnetic confinement of high thermal pressure regions in the plasma by radial magnetic field lines is responsible in at least equal measure with radially directed magnetic tension for the suppression of oscillations and the reappearance of local condensational modes. The general importance of even very modest magnetic fields for destabilizing thermal time scale perturbations is emphasized.

Balbus, Steven A.↗

NASA NTRS2001

FUSE Observations of Warm Gas in the Cooling Flow Clusters A1795 and A2597

We present far-ultraviolet spectroscopy of the cores of the massive cooling flow clusters Abell 1795 and 2597 obtained with FUSE. As the intracluster gas cools through 3 x 10(exp 5)K, it should emit strongly in the O VI lambda(lambda)1032,1038 resonance lines. We report the detection of O VI (lambda)1032 emission in A2597, with a line flux of 1.35 +/- 0.35 x 10(exp -15) erg/sq cm s, as well as detection of emission from C III (lambda)977. A marginal detection of C III (lambda)977 emission is also reported for A1795. These observations provide evidence for a direct link between the hot (10(exp 7) K) cooling flow gas and the cool (10(exp 4) K) gas in the optical emission line filaments. Assuming simple cooling flow models, the O VI line flux in A2597 corresponds to a mass deposition rate of approx. 40 solar mass /yr within the central 36 kpc. Emission from O VI (lambda)1032 was not detected in A1795, with an upper limit of 1.5 x 10(exp -15) erg/sq cm s, corresponding to a limit on the mass cooling flow rate of M(28 kpc) less than 28M solar mass/ yr. We have considered several explanations for the lack of detection of O VI emission in A1795 and the weaker than expected flux in A2597, including extinction by dust in the outer cluster, and quenching of thermal conduction by magnetic fields. We conclude that a turbulent mixing model, with some dust extinction, could explain our O VI results while also accounting for the puzzling lack of emission by Fe(sub XVII) in cluster cooling flows.

Oegerle, W. R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The magnetic effects of brecciation and shock in meteorites. II - The ureilites and evidence for strong nebular magnetic fields. III - The achondrites

Magnetic studies were conducted on samples of the ureilitic meteorites Goalpara, Havero, Novo Urei, and Kenna. Measurements included bulk magnetic susceptibility, natural remanent magnetization (NRM), saturation remanence, and the demagnetization behavior of NRM and saturation remanence. An approximate 'fossil' magnetic field intensity was determined by analysis of coercivity spectra of NRM and saturation remanence after reheating. It was found that the magnetic susceptibility of ureilites increased with severity of shock, and the NRM intensity decreases while its coercivity spectrum generally hardens with increasing shock. Goalpara and Kenna are distinguished by unexpectedly homogeneous, strong, stable, and directionally clustered NRM, indicative of a unique original magnetizing event. The results support the assertion that both ureilites and carbonaceous chondrites have formed from related nebular material and provide further evidence for a strong external magnetic field during the accretional stages and throughout an early bombardment stage.

Brecher, A.↗

NASA NTRS2012

The First in situ Observation of Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves at High-Latitude Magnetopause during Strongly Dawnward Interplanetary Magnetic Field Conditions

We report the first in situ observation of high-latitude magnetopause (near the northern duskward cusp) Kelvin-Helmholtz waves (KHW) by Cluster on January 12, 2003, under strongly dawnward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. The fluctuations unstable to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) are found to propagate mostly tailward, i.e., along the direction almost 90 deg. to both the magnetosheath and geomagnetic fields, which lowers the threshold of the KHI. The magnetic configuration across the boundary layer near the northern duskward cusp region during dawnward IMF is similar to that in the low-latitude boundary layer under northward IMF, in that (1) both magnetosheath and magnetospheric fields across the local boundary layer constitute the lowest magnetic shear and (2) the tailward propagation of the KHW is perpendicular to both fields. Approximately 3-hour-long periods of the KHW during dawnward IMF are followed by the rapid expansion of the dayside magnetosphere associated with the passage of an IMF discontinuity that characterizes an abrupt change in IMF cone angle, Phi = acos (B(sub x) / absolute value of Beta), from approx. 90 to approx. 10. Cluster, which was on its outbound trajectory, continued observing the boundary waves at the northern evening-side magnetopause during sunward IMF conditions following the passage of the IMF discontinuity. By comparing the signatures of boundary fluctuations before and after the IMF discontinuity, we report that the frequencies of the most unstable KH modes increased after the discontinuity passed. This result demonstrates that differences in IMF orientations (especially in f) are associated with the properties of KHW at the high-latitude magnetopause due to variations in thickness of the boundary layer, and/or width of the KH-unstable band on the surface of the dayside magnetopause.

solar wind↗

NASA NTRS1988

Soho and Cluster - The scientific instruments

The mission goals and instrumentation of the Soho and cluster spacecraft to be launched in 1995 as part of the international Solar-Terrestrial Science Program are discussed. Instruments such as normal-incidence, grazing-incidence, and EUV coronal spectrometers aboard the Soho spacecraft will study the origin of the solar wind and the physical properties of the solar atmosphere. The four Cluster spacecraft will measure electric and magnetic fields, plasmas, and energetic particles using instruments including a wide-band receiver system, a relaxation sounder, and a search coil magnetometer.

Domingo, V.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Observational Evidence of How Magnetofluid Turbulence in the Solar Wind Dissipates

The solar wind appears to be a fully developed turbulent magnetofluid. As this magnetofluid expands into the heliosphere, it cools significantly less rapidly than would be expected of an adiabatically expanding gas. The evolution of the temperature with distance is roughly what would be expected if the turbulence dissipated by heating the thermal plasma. Several physical mechanisms have been proposed, including resonance absorption of waves and Landau damping. Recently, high-time resolution magnetic field data from the four Cluster spacecraft have illustrated damping of the fluctuations out to the electron inertial scale. Use of the wave telescope/k-filtering technique during two intervals of busrt mode data suggests that dissipation of the fluctuations is due to Landau damping, first on protons, then on electrons.

Goldstein, Melvyn L.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Observations and Interpretation of Magnetofluid Turbulence at Small Scales

High time resolution magnetic field measurements from the four Cluster spacecraft have revealed new features of the properties of magnetofluid turbulence at small spatial scales; perhaps even revealing the approach to the dissipation regime at scales close to the electron inertial length. Various analysis techniques and theoretical ideas have been put forward to account for the properties of those measurements. The talk will describe the current state of observations and theory, and will point out on-going and planned research that will further our understanding of how magnetofluid turbulence dissipates. The observations and theories are directly germane to studies being planned as part of NASA's forthcoming Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission.

Goldstein, Melvyn L.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Mission Oriented Support and Theory (MOST) for MMS -- The Goddard Space Flight Center/University of California Los Angeles Interdisciplinary Science Program

The MOST IDS team was tasked with focusing on two general areas: The first was to participate with the Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) team in the development of virtual detectors that model the instrument responses of the MMS FPI sensors. The virtual instruments can be 'flown through' both simulation data (from magnetohydrodynamic, hybrid, and kinetic simulations) and Cluster and THEMIS spacecraft data. The goal is to determine signatures of magnetic reconnection expected during the MMS mission. Such signatures can serve as triggers for selection of burst mode downloads. The chapter contributed by the FPI team covers that effort in detail and, therefore, most of that work has not been included here. The second area of emphasis, and the one detailed in this chapter, was to build on past and present knowledge of magnetic reconnection and its physical signatures. Below we describe intensive analyses of Cluster and THEMIS data together with theoretical models and simulations that delineate the plasma signatures that surround sites of reconnection, including the effects of turbulence as well as the detailed kinetic signatures that indicate proximity to reconnection sites. In particular, we point out that particles are energized in several regions, not only at the actual site of reconnection.

Goldstein, Melvyn L.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Evolving Magnetic Structures and Their Relation to Coronal Mass Ejections

Solar activity regions are frequently concentrated into cluster which persist for many solar rotations. These activity complexes are associated with weak dispersed magnetic fields which are most apparent after the activity itself has ceased. We call this combination of persistent activity and dispersed Evolving Magnetic Structures (EMS). Here we show examples of EMSs and describe the evolution of an EMS associated with major Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and other solar and magnetic disturbances.

magnetic activity↗

NASA NTRS2018

MMS Examination of FTEs at the Earth's Subsolar Magnetopause

Determining the magnetic field structure, electric currents, and plasma distributions within flux transfer event (FTE)-type flux ropes is critical to the understanding of their origin, evolution, and dynamics. Here the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission's high-resolution magnetic field and plasma measurements are used to identify FTEs in the vicinity of the subsolar magnetopause. The constant-alpha flux rope model is used to identify quasi-force free flux ropes and to infer the size, the core magnetic field strength, the magnetic flux content, and the spacecraft trajectories through these structures. Our statistical analysis determines a mean diameter of 1,700 ± 400 km (~30 ± 9 d(sub i)) and an average magnetic flux content of 100 ± 30 kWb for the quasi-force free FTEs at the Earth's subsolar magnetopause which are smaller than values reported by Cluster at high latitudes. These observed nonlinear size and magnetic flux content distributions of FTEs appear consistent with the plasmoid instability theory, which relies on the merging of neighboring, small-scale FTEs to generate larger structures. The ratio of the perpendicular to parallel components of current density, R(sub J), indicates that our FTEs are magnetically force-free, defined as R(sub J) < 1, in their core regions (<0.6 R(sub flux rope)). Plasma density is shown to be larger in smaller, newly formed FTEs and dropping with increasing FTE size. It is also shown that parallel ion velocity dominates inside FTEs with largest plasma density. Field-aligned flow facilitates the evacuation of plasma inside newly formed FTEs, while their core magnetic field strengthens with increasing FTE size.

Akhavan-Tafti, M.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Dynamic PCA and Machine Learning Tool for Automated Identification of Solar Wind Disturbances Impacting Earth’s Magnetosphere

Earth’s magnetosphere is continuously impacted by solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) disturbances, such as shocks, discontinuities, magnetic clouds and more. Understanding how such disturbances propagate from the Sun and what is their impact on the different magnetospheric domains is key to understanding and forecasting energy transfer from the solar wind to Earth. The large number of overlapping solar wind and magnetospheric missions carrying magnetometers and the recent advances in communications and data storage technologies have enabled an unprecedented quantity of high-fidelity magnetic field data captured by in-situ spacecraft to be available at the click of a button. However, this massive quantity of available data can prove unwieldy for researchers, limiting the identification of interesting phenomena and disturbances to a relatively small percentage of the total dataset. Several techniques have been previously developed for automated identification of specific types of magnetic anomalies, but these methods are typically mission-specific and can be difficult to generalize. We present initial results for a generic method of automated anomaly detection in magnetic field measurements based on dimensionality reduction and unsupervised clustering via machine learning. The benefit of our technique is its high degree of generalizability and flexibility which make it a most useful data survey tool for a wide range of magnetic field datasets. This method can also be applied simultaneously to other observed time-series properties like plasma density, pressure, and velocity for more accurate event identification. Additionally, the application of this method to data captured by multiple spacecraft enables the simultaneous identification of disturbances and the determination of their propagation characteristics. Initial evaluation of this technique has been performed using data from Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) and THEMIS-ARTEMIS missions, providing a testbed scenario for the future Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite (HERMES) platform instruments that will measure solar wind and IMF properties from lunar orbit onboard the Gateway station.

Miguel Martinez-Ledesma↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Dynamic PCA and Machine Learning Tool for Automated Identification of Solar Wind Disturbances Impacting Earth’s Magnetosphere

Miguel Martinez-Ledesma↗

NASA NTRS1973

High voltage electron microscopy of lunar samples

Lunar pyroxenes from Apollo 11, 12, 14, and 15 were investigated. The iron-rich and magnesium-rich pyroxene specimens were crushed to a grain size of ca. 50 microns and studied by a combination of X-ray and electron diffraction, electron microscopy, 57 Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography techniques. Highly ordered, uniform electron-dense bands, corresponding to exsolution lamellae, with average widths of ca. 230A to 1000A dependent on the source specimen were observed. These were?qr separated by wider, less-dense interband spacings with average widths of ca. 330A to 3100A. In heating experiments, splitting of the dense bands into finer structures, leading finally to obliteration of the exsolution lamellae was recorded. The extensive exsolution is evidence for significantly slower cooling rates, or possibly annealing, at temperatures in the subsolidus range, adding evidence that annealing of rock from the surface of the moon took place at ca. 600 C. Correlation of the band structure with magnetic ordering at low temperatures and iron clustering within the bands was studied.

Fernandez-Moran, H.↗