| 1. |
- Witasse, O., et al.
(författare)
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Interplanetary coronal mass ejection observed at STEREO-A, Mars, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Saturn, and New Horizons en route to Pluto : Comparison of its Forbush decreases at 1.4, 3.1, and 9.9 AU
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:8, s. 7865-7890
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We discuss observations of the journey throughout the Solar System of a large interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) that was ejected at the Sun on 14 October 2014. The ICME hit Mars on 17 October, as observed by the Mars Express, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission (MAVEN), Mars Odyssey, and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) missions, 44h before the encounter of the planet with the Siding-Spring comet, for which the space weather context is provided. It reached comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which was perfectly aligned with the Sun and Mars at 3.1 AU, as observed by Rosetta on 22 October. The ICME was also detected by STEREO-A on 16 October at 1 AU, and by Cassini in the solar wind around Saturn on the 12 November at 9.9AU. Fortuitously, the New Horizons spacecraft was also aligned with the direction of the ICME at 31.6 AU. We investigate whether this ICME has a nonambiguous signature at New Horizons. A potential detection of this ICME by Voyager 2 at 110-111 AU is also discussed. The multispacecraft observations allow the derivation of certain properties of the ICME, such as its large angular extension of at least 116 degrees, its speed as a function of distance, and its magnetic field structure at four locations from 1 to 10 AU. Observations of the speed data allow two different solar wind propagation models to be validated. Finally, we compare the Forbush decreases (transient decreases followed by gradual recoveries in the galactic cosmic ray intensity) due to the passage of this ICME at Mars, comet 67P, and Saturn.
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| 2. |
- Dimmock, Andrew P., et al.
(författare)
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Backstreaming ions at a high Mach number interplanetary shock : Solar Orbiter measurements during the nominal mission phase
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 679
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: Solar Orbiter, a mission developed by the European Space Agency, explores in situ plasma across the inner heliosphere while providing remote-sensing observations of the Sun. The mission aims to study the solar wind, but also transient structures such as interplanetary coronal mass ejections and stream interaction regions. These structures often contain a leading shock wave that can differ from other plasma shock waves, such as those around planets. Importantly, the Mach number of these interplanetary shocks is typically low (1-3) compared to planetary bow shocks and most astrophysical shocks. However, our shock survey revealed that on 30 October 2021, Solar Orbiter measured a shock with an Alfven Mach number above 6, which can be considered high in this context.Aims: Our study examines particle observations for the 30 October 2021 shock. The particles provide clear evidence of ion reflection up to several minutes upstream of the shock. Additionally, the magnetic and electric field observations contain complex electromagnetic structures near the shock, and we aim to investigate how they are connected to ion dynamics. The main goal of this study is to advance our understanding of the complex coupling between particles and the shock structure in high Mach number regimes of interplanetary shocks.Methods: We used observations of magnetic and electric fields, probe-spacecraft potential, and thermal and energetic particles to characterize the structure of the shock front and particle dynamics. Furthermore, ion velocity distribution functions were used to study reflected ions and their coupling to the shock. To determine shock parameters and study waves, we used several methods, including cold plasma theory, singular-value decomposition, minimum variance analysis, and shock Rankine-Hugoniot relations. To support the analysis and interpretation of the experimental data, test-particle analysis, and hybrid particle in-cell simulations were used.Results: The ion velocity distribution functions show clear evidence of particle reflection in the form of backstreaming ions several minutes upstream. The shock structure has complex features at the ramp and whistler precursors. The backstreaming ions may be modulated by the complex shock structure, and the whistler waves are likely driven by gyrating ions in the foot. Supra-thermal ions up to 20 keV were observed, but shock-accelerated particles with energies above this were not.
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| 3. |
- Dimmock, Andrew P., et al.
(författare)
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Mirror Mode Storms Observed by Solar Orbiter
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 127:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mirror modes (MMs) are ubiquitous in space plasma and grow from pressure anisotropy. Together with other instabilities, they play a fundamental role in constraining the free energy contained in the plasma. This study focuses on MMs observed in the solar wind by Solar Orbiter (SolO) for heliocentric distances between 0.5 and 1 AU. Typically, MMs have timescales from several to tens of seconds and are considered quasi-MHD structures. In the solar wind, they also generally appear as isolated structures. However, in certain conditions, prolonged and bursty trains of higher frequency MMs are measured, which have been labeled previously as MM storms. At present, only a handful of existing studies have focused on MM storms, meaning that many open questions remain. In this study, SolO has been used to investigate several key aspects of MM storms: their dependence on heliocentric distance, association with local plasma properties, temporal/spatial scale, amplitude, and connections with larger-scale solar wind transients. The main results are that MM storms often approach local ion scales and can no longer be treated as quasi-magnetohydrodynamic, thus breaking the commonly used long-wavelength assumption. They are typically observed close to current sheets and downstream of interplanetary shocks. The events were observed during slow solar wind speeds and there was a tendency for higher occurrence closer to the Sun. The occurrence is low, so they do not play a fundamental role in regulating ambient solar wind but may play a larger role inside transients.
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| 4. |
- Kajdic, P., et al.
(författare)
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ULF Wave Transmission Across Collisionless Shocks : 2.5D Local Hybrid Simulations
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 126:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study the interaction of upstream ultralow frequency (ULF) waves with collisionless shocks by analyzing the outputs of 11 2D local hybrid simulation runs. Our simulated shocks have Alfvenic Mach numbers between 4.29 and 7.42 and their theta BN angles are 15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, and 50 degrees. The ULF wave foreshocks develop upstream of all of them. The wavelength and the amplitude of the upstream waves exhibit a complex dependence on the shock's MA and theta BN. The wavelength positively correlates with both parameters, with the dependence on theta BN being much stronger. The amplitude of the ULF waves is proportional to the product of the reflected beam velocity and density, which also depend on MA and theta BN. The interaction of the ULF waves with the shock causes large-scale (several tens of upstream ion inertial lengths) shock rippling. The properties of the shock ripples are related to the ULF wave properties, namely their wavelength and amplitude. In turn, the ripples have a large impact on the ULF wave transmission across the shock because they change local shock properties (theta BN, strength), so that different sections of the same ULF wavefront encounter shock with different characteristics. Downstream fluctuations do not resemble the upstream waves in terms the wavefront extension, orientation or their wavelength. However, some features are conserved in the Fourier spectra of downstream compressive waves that present a bump or flattening at wavelengths approximately corresponding to those of the upstream ULF waves. In the transverse downstream spectra, these features are weaker.
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| 5. |
- Turc, L., et al.
(författare)
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Transmission of foreshock waves through Earth's bow shock
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Physics. - : Springer Nature. - 1745-2473 .- 1745-2481. ; 19:1, s. 78-86
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Earth's magnetosphere and its bow shock, which is formed by the interaction of the supersonic solar wind with the terrestrial magnetic field, constitute a rich natural laboratory enabling in situ investigations of universal plasma processes. Under suitable interplanetary magnetic field conditions, a foreshock with intense wave activity forms upstream of the bow shock. So-called 30 s waves, named after their typical period at Earth, are the dominant wave mode in the foreshock and play an important role in modulating the shape of the shock front and affect particle reflection at the shock. These waves are also observed inside the magnetosphere and down to the Earth's surface, but how they are transmitted through the bow shock remains unknown. By combining state-of-the-art global numerical simulations and spacecraft observations, we demonstrate that the interaction of foreshock waves with the shock generates earthward-propagating, fast-mode waves, which reach the magnetosphere. These findings give crucial insight into the interaction of waves with collisionless shocks in general and their impact on the downstream medium.
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| 6. |
- Palmroth, M., et al.
(författare)
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Magnetosheath jet properties and evolution as determined by a global hybrid-Vlasov simulation
- 2018
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Ingår i: Annales Geophysicae. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 0992-7689 .- 1432-0576. ; 36:5, s. 1171-1182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use a global hybrid-Vlasov simulation for the magnetosphere, Vlasiator, to investigate magnetosheath high-speed jets. Unlike many other hybrid-kinetic simulations, Vlasiator includes an unscaled geomagnetic dipole, indicating that the simulation spatial and temporal dimensions can be given in SI units without scaling. Thus, for the first time, this allows investigating the magnetosheath jet properties and comparing them directly with the observed jets within the Earth's magnetosheath. In the run shown in this paper, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) cone angle is 30°, and a foreshock develops upstream of the quasi-parallel magnetosheath. We visually detect a structure with high dynamic pressure propagating from the bow shock through the magnetosheath. The structure is confirmed as a jet using three different criteria, which have been adopted in previous observational studies. We compare these criteria against the simulation results. We find that the magnetosheath jet is an elongated structure extending earthward from the bow shock by ∼ 2.6 RE, while its size perpendicular to the direction of propagation is ∼ 0.5R/E. We also investigate the jet evolution and find that the jet originates due to the interaction of the bow shock with a high-dynamic-pressure structure that reproduces observational features associated with a short, large-amplitude magnetic structure (SLAMS). The simulation shows that magnetosheath jets can develop also under steady IMF, as inferred by observational studies. To our knowledge, this paper therefore shows the first global kinetic simulation of a magnetosheath jet, which is in accordance with three observational jet criteria and is caused by a SLAMS advecting towards the bow shock.
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| 7. |
- Sanchez-Cano, B., et al.
(författare)
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Mars plasma system response to solar wind disturbances during solar minimum
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:6, s. 6611-6634
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper is a phenomenological description of the ionospheric plasma and induced magnetospheric boundary (IMB) response to two different types of upstream solar wind events impacting Mars in March 2008, at the solar minimum. A total of 16 Mars Express orbits corresponding to five consecutive days is evaluated. Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory-B (STEREO-B) at 1AU and Mars Express and Mars Odyssey at 1.644AU detected the arrival of a small transient interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME-like) on the 6 and 7 of March, respectively. This is the first time that this kind of small solar structure is reported at Mars's distance. In both cases, it was followed by a large increase in solar wind velocity that lasted for similar to 10days. This scenario is simulated with the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) - ENLIL + Cone solar solar wind model. At Mars, the ICME-like event caused a strong compression of the magnetosheath and ionosphere, and the recovery lasted for similar to 3 orbits (similar to 20h). After that, the fast stream affected the upper ionosphere and the IMB, which radial and tangential motions in regions close to the subsolar point are analyzed. Moreover, a compression in the Martian plasma system is also observed, although weaker than after the ICME-like impact, and several magnetosheath plasma blobs in the upper ionosphere are detected by Mars Express. We conclude that, during solar minimum and at aphelion, small solar wind structures can create larger perturbations than previously expected in the Martian system.
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| 8. |
- Takahashi, Kazue, et al.
(författare)
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Propagation of Ultralow-Frequency Waves from the Ion Foreshock into the Magnetosphere During the Passage of a Magnetic Cloud
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 126:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have examined the properties of ultralow-frequency (ULF) waves in space (the ion foreshock, magnetosheath, and magnetosphere) and at dayside magnetometer stations (L = 1.6-6.5) during Earth's encounter with a magnetic cloud in the solar wind, which is characterized by magnetic fields with large magnitudes (similar to 14 nT) and small cone angles (similar to 30 degrees). In the foreshock, waves were excited at similar to 90 m Hz as expected from theory, but there were oscillations at other frequencies as well. Oscillations near 90 mHz were detected at the other locations in space, but they were not in general the most dominant oscillations. On the ground, pulsations in the approximate Pc2-Pc4 band (5 mHz-120 mHz) were continuously detected at all stations, with no outstanding spectral peaks near 90 mHz in the H component except at stations where the frequency of the third harmonic of standing Alfven waves had this frequency. The fundamental toroidal wave frequency was below 90 mHz at all stations. In the D component spectra, a minor spectral peak is found near 90 mHz at stations located at L < 3, and the power dropped abruptly above this frequency. Magnetospheric compressional wave power was much weaker on the nightside. A hybrid-Vlasov simulation indicates that foreshock ULF waves have short spatial scale lengths and waves transmitted into the magnetosphere are strongly attenuated away from noon.
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| 9. |
- Trotta, D., et al.
(författare)
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Three-dimensional modelling of the shock-turbulence interaction
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 525:2, s. 1856-1866
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The complex interaction between shocks and plasma turbulence is extremely important to address crucial features of energy conversion in a broad range of astrophysical systems. We study the interaction between a supercritical, perpendicular shock and pre-existing, fully developed plasma turbulence, employing a novel combination of magnetohydrodynamic and small-scale, hybrid-kinetic simulations where a shock is propagating through a turbulent medium. The variability of the shock front in the unperturbed case and for two levels of upstream fluctuations is addressed. We find that the behaviour of shock ripples, i.e. shock surface fluctuations with short (a few ion skin depths, di) wavelengths, is modified by the presence of pre-existing turbulence, which also induces strong corrugations of the shock front at larger scales. We link this complex behaviour of the shock front and the shock downstream structuring with the proton temperature anisotropies produced in the shock-turbulence system. Finally, we put our modelling effort in the context of spacecraft observations, elucidating the role of novel cross-scale, multispacecraft measurements in resolving shock front irregularities at different scales. These results are relevant for a broad range of astrophysical systems characterized by the presence of shock waves interacting with plasma turbulence.
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| 10. |
- Vech, Dániel, et al.
(författare)
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Space weather effects on the bow shock, the magnetic barrier, and the ion composition boundary at Venus
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 120:6, s. 4613-4627
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a statistical study on the interaction between interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and the induced magnetosphere of Venus when the peak magnetic field of the magnetic barrier was anomalously large (>65nT). Based on the entire available Venus Express data set from April 2006 to October 2014, we selected 42 events and analyzed the solar wind parameters, the position of the bow shock, the size and plasma properties of the magnetic barrier, and the position of the ion composition boundary (ICB). It was found that the investigated ICMEs can be characterized with interplanetary shocks and unusually large tangential magnetic fields with respect to the Venus-Sun line. In most of the cases the position of the bow shock was not affected by the ICME. In a few cases the interaction between magnetic clouds and the induced magnetosphere of Venus was observed. During these events the small magnetosonic Mach numbers inside magnetic clouds caused the bow shock to appear at anomalously large distances from the planet. The positions of the upper and lower boundaries of the magnetic barrier were not affected by the ICMEs. The position of the ICB on the nightside was found closer to the planet during ICME passages which is attributed to the increased solar wind dynamic pressure. Key Points Statistical study of the ICME-Venus interaction Analysis of solar wind and magnetic barrier conditions during ICME passages Decreased altitude of the nightside ionosphere during ICME passages
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