| 1. |
- De Spiegeleer, Alexandre, et al.
(author)
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Low-frequency oscillatory flow signatures and high-speed flows in the Earth's magnetotail
- 2017
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - Washington : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:7, s. 7042-7056
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using plasma sheet data from Cluster 1 spacecraft from 2001 till 2011, we statistically investigate oscillatory signatures in the plasma bulk flow. These periodic oscillations are compared to high-speed and quiet flows. Periodic oscillations are observed approximately 8% of the time, while high-speed flows and quiet flows are observed around 0.5% and 12% of the time, respectively. We remark that periodic oscillations can roughly occur everywhere for x(gsm) < -10 R-E and |y(gsm)| < 10 RE, while quiet flows mainly occur toward the flanks of this region and toward x = -10 R-E. The relation between the geomagnetic and solar activity and the occurrence of periodic oscillations is investigated and reveal that periodic oscillations occur for most Kp values and solar activity, while quiet flows are more common during low magnetospheric and solar activity. We find that the median oscillation frequency of periodic oscillations is 1.7 mHz and the median duration of the oscillation events is 41 min. We also observe that their associated Poynting vectors show a tendency to be earthward (S-x >= 0). Finally, the distribution of high-speed flows and periodic oscillations as a function of the velocity is investigated and reveals that thresholds lower than 200 km/s should not be used to identify high-speed flows as it could result in misinterpreting a periodic oscillations for a high-speed flow.
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| 2. |
- Vaverka, Jakub, et al.
(author)
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Detection of EMPs generated by meteoroid impacts on the MMS spacecraft and problems with signal interpretation
- 2017
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In: 2017 XXXIInd General Assembly and Scientific Symposium of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI GASS). - : IEEE. - 9789082598704
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Signatures of hypervelocity dust impacts detected by electric field instruments are still not completely understood. We have used the electric field instrument onboard one of the MMS spacecraft orbiting the Earth since 2015 to study various pulses in the measured electric field detected simultaneously by multiple antennas. This unique instrument allows a detailed investigation of registered waveforms. The preliminary results shown that the solitary waves can generate similar pulses as dust impacts and detected pulses can easily by misinterpreted when only one antenna is used.
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| 3. |
- Vaverka, Jakub, et al.
(author)
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Detection of meteoroid hypervelocity impacts on the Cluster spacecraft : First results
- 2017
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:6, s. 6485-6494
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present the first study of dust impact events on one of the Earth-orbiting Cluster satellites. The events were identified in the measurements of the wide band data (WBD) instrument on board the satellite operating in monopole configuration. Since 2009 the instrument is operating in this configuration due to the loss of three electric probes and is therefore measuring the potential between the only operating antenna and the spacecraft body. Our study shows that the WBD instrument on Cluster 1 is able to detect pulses generated by dust impacts and discusses four such events. The presence of instrumental effects, intensive natural waves, noncontinuous sampling modes, and the automatic gain control complicates this detection. Due to all these features, we conclude that the Cluster spacecraft are not ideal for dust impact studies. We show that the duration and amplitudes of the pulses recorded by Cluster are similar to pulses detected by STEREO, and the shape of the pulses can be described with the model of the recollection of impact cloud electrons by the positively charged spacecraft. We estimate that the detected impacts were generated by micron-sized grains with velocities in the order of tens of km/s.
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| 4. |
- Vaverka, Jakub, et al.
(author)
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Potential of Earth Orbiting Spacecraft Influenced by Meteoroid Hypervelocity Impacts
- 2017
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In: IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science. - 0093-3813 .- 1939-9375. ; 45:8, s. 2048-2055
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Detection of hypervelocity impacts on a spacecraft body using electric field instruments has been established as a new method for monitoring of dust grains in our solar system. Voyager, WIND, Cassini, and STEREO spacecraft have shown that this technique can be a complementary method to conventional dust detectors. This approach uses fast short time changes in the spacecraft potential generated by hypervelocity dust impacts, which can be detected by monopole electric field instruments as a pulse in the measured electric field. The shape and the duration of the pulse strongly depend on parameters of the ambient plasma environment. This fact is very important for Earth orbiting spacecraft crossing various regions of the Earth's magnetosphere where the concentration and the temperature of plasma particles change significantly. We present the numerical simulations of spacecraft charging focused on changes in the spacecraft potential generated by dust impacts in various locations of the Earth's magnetosphere. We show that identical dust impacts generate significantly larger pulses in regions with lower electron density. We discuss the influence of the photoelectron distribution for dust impact detections showing that a small amount of energetic photoelectrons significantly increases the potential of the spacecraft body and the pulse duration. We also show that the active spacecraft potential control (ASPOC) instrument onboard the cluster spacecraft strongly reduces the amplitude and the duration of the pulse resulting in difficulties of dust detection when ASPOC is ON. Simulation of dust impacts is compared with pulses detected by the Earth orbiting cluster spacecraft in the last part of Section III.
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| 5. |
- Yao, Shutao, et al.
(author)
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Observations of kinetic-size magnetic holes in the magnetosheath
- 2017
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:2, s. 1990-2000
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Magnetic holes (MHs), with a scale much greater than ρi (proton gyroradius), have been widely reported in various regions of space plasmas. On the other hand, kinetic-size magnetic holes (KSMHs), previously called small-size magnetic holes, with a scale of the order of magnitude of or less than ρi have only been reported in the Earth's magnetospheric plasma sheet. In this study, we report such KSMHs in the magnetosheath whereby we use measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which provides three-dimensional (3-D) particle distribution measurements with a resolution much higher than previous missions. The MHs have been observed in a scale of 10-20 ρe (electron gyroradii) and lasted 0.1-0.3 s. Distinctive electron dynamics features are observed, while no substantial deviations in ion data are seen. It is found that at the 90 degrees pitch angle, the flux of electrons with energy 34-66 eV decreased, while for electrons of energy 109-1024 eV increased inside the MHs. We also find the electron flow vortex perpendicular to the magnetic field, a feature self-consistent with the magnetic depression. Moreover, the calculated current density is mainly contributed by the electron diamagnetic drift, and the electron vortex flow is the diamagnetic drift flow. The electron magnetohydrodynamics soliton is considered as a possible generation mechanism for the KSMHs with the scale size of 10-20 ρe.
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