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- Blomberg, Lars G., et al.
(author)
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MEFISTO - An electric field instrument for BepiColombo/MMO
- 2006
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In: Advances in Space Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0273-1177 .- 1879-1948. ; 38:4, s. 672-679
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- MEFISTO, together with the companion instrument WPT, are planning the first-ever in situ measurements of the electric field in the magnetosphere of planet Mercury. The instruments have been selected by JAXA for inclusion in the BepiColombo/MMO payload, as part of the Plasma Wave Investigation coordinated by Kyoto University. The magnetosphere of Mercury was discovered by Mariner 10 in 1974 and will be studied further by Messenger starting in 2011. However, neither spacecraft did or will measure the electric field. Electric fields are crucial in the dynamics of a magnetosphere and for the energy and plasma transport between different regions within the magnetosphere as well as between the magnetosphere and the surrounding regions. The MEFISTO instrument will be capable of measuring electric fields from DC to 3 MHz, and will thus also allow diagnostics of waves at all frequencies of relevance to the Hermean magnetosphere. MEFISTO is a double-probe electric field instrument. The double-probe technique has strong heritage and is well proven on missions such as Viking, Polar, and Cluster. For BepiColombo, a newly developed deployment mechanism is planned which reduces the mass by a factor of about 5 compared to conventional mechanisms for 15 in long booms. We describe the basic characteristics of the instrument and briefly discuss the new developments made to tailor the instrument to flight in Mercury orbit.
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2. |
- Gustafsson, Georg, et al.
(author)
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First results of electric field and density observations by Cluster EFW based on initial months of operation
- 2001
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In: Annales Geophysicae. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 0992-7689 .- 1432-0576. ; 19:12-okt, s. 1219-1240
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Highlights are presented from studies of the electric field data from various regions along the CLUSTER orbit. They all point towards a very high coherence for phenomena recorded on four spacecraft that are separated by a few hundred kilometers for structures over the whole range of apparent frequencies from I mHz to 9 kHz. This presents completely new opportunities to study spatial-temporal plasma phenomena from the magnetosphere out to the solar wind. A new probe environment was constructed for the CLUSTER electric field experiment that now produces data of unprecedented quality. Determination of plasma flow in the solar wind is an example of the capability of the instrument.
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3. |
- Aikio, A. T., et al.
(author)
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Temporal evolution of two auroral arcs as measured by the Cluster satellite and coordinated ground-based instruments
- 2004
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In: Annales Geophysicae. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 0992-7689 .- 1432-0576. ; 22:12, s. 4089-4101
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The four Cluster s/c passed over Northern Scandinavia on 6 February 2001 from south-east to north-west at a radial distance of about 4.4 R-E in the post-midnight sector. When mapped along geomagnetic field lines, the separation of the spacecraft in the ionosphere was confined to within 110 km in latitude and 50 km in longitude. This constellation allowed us to study the temporal evolution of plasma with a time scale of a few minutes. Ground-based instrumentation used involved two all-sky cameras, magnetometers and the EISCAT radar. The main findings were as follows. Two auroral arcs were located close to the equatorward and poleward edge of a large-scale density cavity, respectively. These arcs showed a different kind of a temporal evolution. (1) As a response to a pseudo-breakup onset, both the up- and downward field-aligned current (FAC) sheets associated with the equatorward arc widened and the total amount of FAC doubled in a time scale of 1-2 min. (2) In the poleward arc, a density cavity formed in the ionosphere in the return (downward) current region. As a result of ionospheric feedback, a strongly enhanced ionospheric southward electric field developed in the region of decreased Pedersen conductance. Furthermore, the acceleration potential of ionospheric electrons, carrying the return current, increased from 200 to 1000 eV in 70 s, and the return current region widened in order to supply a constant amount of return current to the arc current circuit. Evidence of local acceleration of the electron population by dispersive Alfven waves was obtained in the upward FAC region of the poleward arc. However, the downward accelerated suprathermal electrons must be further energised below Cluster in order to be able to produce the observed visible aurora. Both of the auroral arcs were associated with broad-band ULF/ELF (BBELF) waves, but they were highly localised in space and time. The most intense BBELF waves were confined typically to the return current regions adjacent to the visual arc, but in one case also to a weak upward FAC region. BBELF waves could appear/disappear between s/c crossings of the same arc separated by about 1 min.
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4. |
- ELPHINSTONE, RD, et al.
(author)
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OBSERVATIONS IN THE VICINITY OF SUBSTORM ONSET - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SUBSTORM PROCESS
- 1995
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In: JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 0148-0227. ; 100:A5, s. 7937-7969
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Multi-instrument data sets from the ground and satellites at both low and high altitude have provided new results concerning substorm onset and its source region in the magnetosphere. Twenty-six out of 37 substorm onset events showed evidence of azimuthal
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6. |
- Leppänen, A. -P, et al.
(author)
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Cosmogenic Be-7 in air : A complex mixture of production and transport
- 2010
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In: Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 1364-6826 .- 1879-1824. ; 72:13, s. 1036-1043
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The long-time series of Be-7 activity in surface air have been studied with the wavelet analysis technique in order to find coherence between Be-7 activity, theoretical production in the troposphere and climatic indices. The Be-7 activity were obtained from five different locations, Angra in the tropics in Brazil, Skane in mid-latitudes in Southern Sweden, Kiruna in Polar region in Northern Sweden, Loviisa in Southern Finland and Rovaniemi in polar region in Northern Finland. The Be-7 data from the Northern hemisphere sites where tested for coherence with theoretical production of the isotope in troposphere and with the North Atlantic Oscillation index. In the Southern hemisphere separate theoretical production was calculated in order to describe local production and Southern Annular Mode was used as the climatic index. Consistent and significant coherence were found with theoretical production at Skane, Kiruna and Loviisa at time-scales of four years or longer. At Angra and Rovaniemi sites, no coherence was detected between Be-7 theoretical tropospheric production and measured activity at ground level. The coherence between Be-7 data from Skane and Angra and climatic indices is insignificant while data from Northern and Eastern Scandinavia show clear coherence with climatic indices at time-scales of four years or longer. Additionally, significant coherence was found between the cosmic ray induced production and NAO at the time band of 8-12 years whereas the coherence between cosmic ray induced production and SAM was insignificant. This feature implies that the ground level Be-7 activity contain mixed information on both production and transport. This conclusion means that further evaluation through models which enable accurate realistic models that will be investigated in future studies.
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7. |
- Mursula, K, et al.
(author)
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Nonbouncing Pc 1 wave bursts
- 1997
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In: JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SPACE PHYSICS. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). ; 102:A8, s. 17611-17624
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- On April 11, 1986, at about 0600 UT a long Pc 1 wave event of the hydromagnetic chorus type started on the ground, as registered by the Finnish pulsation magnetometer network. The main pulsation band at about 0.3 Hz was observed for several hours. Soon after start, this band smoothly extended to higher frequencies, forming another separate wave band which finally reached up to 0.5 Hz. During the event the Viking satellite was on its southbound pass over Scandinavia, close to the MLT sector of the ground network. From 0650 until 0657 UT, Viking observed a chain of Pc 1 bursts with increasing frequency. The strongest bursts could be grouped into two separate wave regions whose properties differed slightly. The higher-latitude region had a frequency of 0.3 Hz, well in agreement with the main Pc 1 band on the ground. The lower-latitude region contained the highest frequencies observed on the ground at about 0.5 Hz. The latitudinal extent of both wave regions was about 0.5 degrees. They had slightly different normalized frequencies, Alfven velocities, and repetition periods. Most interestingly, the repetition periods of both wave sources were too short for the bursts to be due to a wave packet bouncing between the two hemispheres. The results give new information about the high-latitude Pc 1 waves, showing that they can consist of separate repetitive but nonbouncing bursts. We suggest that the long-held bouncing wave packet hypothesis is generally incorrect and discuss two alternative models where the burst structure is formed at the equatorial source region of the waves.
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