The magnetic field experiment on WIND will provide data for studies of a broad range of scales of structures and fluctuation characteristics of the interplanetary magnetic field throughout the mission, and, where appropriate, relate them to the statics and dynamics of the magnetosphere. The basic instrument of the Magnetic Field Investigation (MFI) is a boom-mounted dual triaxial fluxgate magnetometer and associated electronics. The dual configuration provides redundancy and also permits accurate removal of the dipolar portion of the spacecraft magnetic field. The instrument provides (1) near real-time data at nominally one vector per 92 s as key parameter data for broad dissemination, (2) rapid data at 10.9 vectors s−1 for standard analysis, and (3) occasionally, snapshot (SS) memory data and Fast Fourier Transform data (FFT), both based on 44 vectors s−1. These measurements will be precise (0.025%), accurate, ultra-sensitive (0.008 nT/step quantization), and where the sensor noise level is <0.006 nT r.m.s. for 0–10 Hz. The digital processing unit utilizes a 12-bit microprocessor controlled analogue-to-digital converter. The instrument features a very wide dynamic range of measurement capability, from ±4 nT up to ±65 536 nT per axis in eight discrete ranges. (The upper range permits complete testing in the Earth's field.) In the FTT mode power spectral density elements are transmitted to the ground as fast as once every 23 s (high rate), and 2.7 min of SS memory time series data, triggered automatically by pre-set command, requires typically about 5.1 hours for transmission. Standard data products are expected to be the following vector field averages: 0.0227-s (detail data from SS), 0.092 s (‘detail’ in standard mode), 3 s, 1 min, and 1 hour, in both GSE and GSM coordinates, as well as the FFT spectral elements. As has been our team's tradition, high instrument reliability is obtained by the use of fully redundant systems and extremely conservative designs. We plan studies of the solar wind: (1) as a collisionless plasma laboratory, at all time scales, macro, meso and micro, but concentrating on the kinetic scale, the highest time resolution of the instrument (=0.022 s), (2) as a consequence of solar energy and mass output, (3) as an external source of plasma that can couple mass, momentum, and energy to the Earth's magnetosphere, and (4) as it is modified as a consequence of its imbedded field interacting with the moon. Since the GEOTAIL Inboard Magnetometer (GIM), which is similar to the MFI instrument, was developed by members of our team, we provide a brief discussion of GIM related science objectives, along with MFI related science goals.

https://wind.nasa.gov/docs/MFI_Lepping_SSR1995.pdf

The WIND magnetic field investigation

The near-Earth neutral line (NENL) model of magnetospheric substorms is reviewed. The observed phenomenology of substorms is discussed including the role of coupling with the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field, the growth phase sequence, the expansion phase (and onset), and the recovery phase. New observations and modeling results are put into the context of the prior model framework. Significant issues and concerns about the shortcomings of the NENL model are addressed. Such issues as ionosphere-tail coupling, large-scale mapping, onset trigger- ing, and observational timing are discussed. It is concluded that the NENL model is evolving and being improved so as to include new observations and theoretical insights. More work is clearly required in order to incorporate fully the complete set of ionospheric, near-tail, midtail, and deep- tail features of substorms. Nonetheless, the NENL model still seems to provide the best avail- able framework for ordering the complex, global manifestations of substorms.

/pdf/neutral-line-model-of-substorms-past-results-and-present-alhlk5bw71.pdf

Neutral line model of substorms: Past results and present view

The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) has been operating as an international co-operative organization for over 10 years. The network has now grown so that the fields of view of its 18 radars cover the majority of the northern and southern hemisphere polar ionospheres. SuperDARN has been successful in addressing a wide range of scientific questions concerning processes in the magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, and mesosphere, as well as general plasma physics questions. We commence this paper with a historical introduction to SuperDARN. Following this, we review the science performed by SuperDARN over the last 10 years covering the areas of ionospheric convection, field-aligned currents, magnetic reconnection, substorms, MHD waves, the neutral atmosphere, and E-region ionospheric irregularities. In addition, we provide an up-to-date description of the current network, as well as the analysis techniques available for use with the data from the radars. We conclude the paper with a discussion of the future of SuperDARN, its expansion, and new science opportunities.

/pdf/a-decade-of-the-super-dual-auroral-radar-network-superdarn-1v7hx0kq9o.pdf

A decade of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN): scientific achievements, new techniques and future directions

Twenty one differences between CME-driven geomagnetic storms and CIR-driven geomagnetic storms are tabulated. (CME-driven includes driving by CME sheaths, by magnetic clouds, and by ejecta; CIR-driven includes driving by the associated recurring high-speed streams.) These differences involve the bow shock, the magnetosheath, the radiation belts, the ring current, the aurora, the Earth's plasma sheet, magnetospheric convection, ULF pulsations, spacecraft charging in the magnetosphere, and the saturation of the polar cap potential. CME-driven storms are brief, have denser plasma sheets, have strong ring currents and Dst, have solar energetic particle events, and can produce great auroras and dangerous geomagnetically induced currents; CIR-driven storms are of longer duration, have hotter plasmas and stronger spacecraft charging, and produce high fluxes of relativistic electrons. Further, the magnetosphere is more likely to be preconditioned with dense plasmas prior to CIR-driven storms than it is prior to CME-driven storms. CME-driven storms pose more of a problem for Earth-based electrical systems; CIR-driven storms pose more of a problem for space-based assets.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2005JA011447

Differences between CME‐driven storms and CIR‐driven storms

The Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP)-Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) suite contains an innovative complement of particle instruments to ensure the highest quality measurements ever made in the inner magnetosphere and radiation belts. The coordinated RBSP-ECT particle measurements, analyzed in combination with fields and waves observations and state-of-the-art theory and modeling, are necessary for understanding the acceleration, global distribution, and variability of radiation belt electrons and ions, key science objectives of NASA’s Living With a Star program and the Van Allen Probes mission. The RBSP-ECT suite consists of three highly-coordinated instruments: the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS), the Helium Oxygen Proton Electron (HOPE) sensor, and the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT). Collectively they cover, continuously, the full electron and ion spectra from one eV to 10’s of MeV with sufficient energy resolution, pitch angle coverage and resolution, and with composition measurements in the critical energy range up to 50 keV and also from a few to 50 MeV/nucleon. All three instruments are based on measurement techniques proven in the radiation belts. The instruments use those proven techniques along with innovative new designs, optimized for operation in the most extreme conditions in order to provide unambiguous separation of ions and electrons and clean energy responses even in the presence of extreme penetrating background environments. The design, fabrication and operation of ECT spaceflight instrumentation in the harsh radiation belt environment ensure that particle measurements have the fidelity needed for closure in answering key mission science questions. ECT instrument details are provided in companion papers in this same issue.

/pdf/science-goals-and-overview-of-the-radiation-belt-storm-1x2amdctlh.pdf

Science Goals and Overview of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) Suite on NASA’s Van Allen Probes Mission

On the threshold for triggering substorms

[1] To provide critical ULF wave field information for radial diffusion studies in the radiation belts, we quantify ULF wave power (f = 0.5–8.3 mHz) in GOES observations and magnetic field predictions from a global magnetospheric model. A statistical study of 9 years of GOES data reveals the wave local time distribution and power at geosynchronous orbit in field-aligned coordinates as functions of wave frequency, solar wind conditions (Vx, ΔPd and IMF Bz) and geomagnetic activity levels (Kp, Dst and AE). ULF wave power grows monotonically with increasing solar wind Vx, dynamic pressure variations ΔPd and geomagnetic indices in a highly correlated way. During intervals of northward and southward IMF Bz, wave activity concentrates on the dayside and nightside sectors, respectively, due to different wave generation mechanisms in primarily open and closed magnetospheric configurations. Since global magnetospheric models have recently been used to trace particles in radiation belt studies, it is important to quantify the wave predictions of these models at frequencies relevant to electron dynamics (mHz range). Using 27 days of real interplanetary conditions as model inputs, we examine the ULF wave predictions modeled by the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry magnetohydrodynamic code. The LFM code does well at reproducing, in a statistical sense, the ULF waves observed by GOES. This suggests that the LFM code is capable of modeling variability in the magnetosphere on ULF time scales during typical conditions. The code provides a long-missing wave field model needed to quantify the interaction of radiation belt electrons with realistic, global ULF waves throughout the inner magnetosphere.

/pdf/modeling-radiation-belt-radial-diffusion-in-ulf-wave-fields-4ws25l1plf.pdf

Modeling radiation belt radial diffusion in ULF wave fields: 1. Quantifying ULF wave power at geosynchronous orbit in observations and in global MHD model

Mid-latitude observations of substorm-related Pi 2 waves have established a pattern in the orientation of the major axis of the polarization ellipse relative to the substorm current wedge. The purpose of this paper is to relate the mid-latitude observations to those at lower latitudes. Pi 2 wave polarization parameters (ellipticity, sense of polarization, and the orientation of the major axis, or azimuth, of the horizontal wave ellipse) were measured at the two southern stations of the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory (AFGL) Magnetometer Network located at 40°N magnetic latitude. For the same events the H and D component bays at the five northern stations of the AFGL network located at 55°N were used to locate the position of the substorm current wedge. Then the ellipticity and the azimuth of the waves were examined with respect to the current wedge. We find that inside the current wedge the longitudinal pattern of the polarization azimuth of the low-latitude (40°N) stations agrees with the observed mid-latitude (55°N) azimuth pattern without exception. However, outside the wedge near the longitudes of the field-aligned currents, the azimuth does not change at low latitudes as it does at 55°N. The difference between the mid- and low-latitude observations can be partially explained by the additional observation of positive H component bays at the low-latitude stations, which suggests that the ground-based signature of the current wedge increases in longitudinal extent with decreasing latitude. In agreement with these observations a model calculation of the current wedge shows that the region of the low-latitude H component positive bay is wider at low latitudes than at mid latitudes. With regard to sense of polarization, inside and east of the wedge the sense is predominantly counterclockwise, just as it is at mid latitudes. However, in contrast to mid-latitude observations, west of the wedge the polarization is predominantly clockwise, which implies a reversal in the sense of polarization between 55°N and 40°N. We show that west of the current wedge the largest phase change between the mid and low latitudes occurs in the H component, and we discuss how the reversal in polarization and the H component phase change are related to the existing models for the generation of Pi 2 pulsations.

Pi 2 pulsations and the substorm current wedge: Low‐latitude polarization

An observational campaign was conducted in October 1992 for ∼36 hours, at three high- to low-latitude sites near 75°W longitude (Sondre Stromfjord, Millstone Hill, and Arecibo). Vector plasma drift velocities are obtained using the incoherent scatter radar technique at each site. Neutral winds were measured using a Fabry-Perot interferometer, and 6300 A airglow structures were imaged at the midlatitude site. Electric fields and meridional winds for the period were perturbed when magnetic storms and substorms occurred on the day and night of the campaign. The penetration of magnetospheric electric field and the following interplays between ionospheric electrodynamics and thermospheric wind perturbations in the midlatitude ionosphere are assessed using the multidiagnostic measurements. Evidence for traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs) and large-scale gravity waves induced by auroral heating effects upon the thermosphere is identified. Diffuse aurora and a stable aurora red (SAR) arc were observed from Millstone Hill during the night of the campaign. The SAR arc moved southward when there were westward electric field perturbations, indicating plasmasphere compression in the postmidnight sector under substorm conditions. The SAR arc location was used to infer the motion of the magnetospheric shielding layer past the Millstone Hill site. Ionospheric F region disturbances in hmF2, NmF2, and total electron content were driven by the observed dynamics, exhibiting a complex mix of wind and electric field perturbations. While standard model episodes of penetration and shielding/overshielding occurred during the daytime event, such unambiguous clarifications were far less obvious during the nighttime event. This is perhaps due to the prolonged period of moderate geomagnetic activity that served as the background conditions for the substorms that occurred during the campaign.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/1999JA900460

W. Jeffrey Hughes

Papers

On the threshold for triggering substorms

Modeling radiation belt radial diffusion in ULF wave fields: 1. Quantifying ULF wave power at geosynchronous orbit in observations and in global MHD model

Pi 2 pulsations and the substorm current wedge: Low‐latitude polarization

Dynamical effects of geomagnetic storms and substorms in the middle‐latitude ionosphere: An observational campaign

Underestimates of magnetic flux in coupled MHD model solar wind solutions