This study investigates the effects of non-zero IMF B-y on the magnetotail B-y and fast earthward ion convection (V-perpendicular to > 200 km/s, "perpendicular to" indicates perpendicular to the magnetic field) in the near-lunar magnetotail plasma sheet using the plasma parameters and magnetic field detected by the ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun) P1 satellite during the period 2011-2022. We find that the magnetotail B-y with in the same direction as IMF B-y dominates the entire region. The IMF B-y influence is hemisphere-independent, but shows a dusk-dawn asymmetry with the IMF B-y effect being weaker in the premidnight region than in the postmidnight region. We also find that the IMF B-y influence on earthward fast convection results in an interhemispheric flow asymmetry and it is highly correlated with the direction of magnetotail B-y. The statistical results indicate that occasionally localized dynamics can have a significant effect on magnetotail B-y and V-perpendicular to.

The Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) onboard the ESA JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is described in detail. The RPWI provides an elaborate set of state-of-the-art electromagnetic fields and cold plasma instrumentation, including active sounding with the mutual impedance and Langmuir probe sweep techniques, where several different types of sensors will sample the thermal plasma properties, including electron and ion densities, electron temperature, plasma drift speed, the near DC electric fields, and electric and magnetic signals from various types of phenomena, e.g., radio and plasma waves, electrostatic acceleration structures, induction fields etc. A full wave vector, waveform, polarization, and Poynting flux determination will be achieved. RPWI will enable characterization of the Jovian radio emissions (including goniopolarimetry) up to 45 MHz, has the capability to carry out passive radio sounding of the ionospheric densities of icy moons and employ passive sub-surface radar measurements of the icy crust of these moons. RPWI can also detect micrometeorite impacts, estimate dust charging, monitor the spacecraft potential as well as the integrated EUV flux. The sensors consist of four 10 cm diameter Langmuir probes each mounted on the tip of 3 m long booms, a triaxial search coil magnetometer and a triaxial radio antenna system both mounted on the 10.6 m long MAG boom, each with radiation resistant pre-amplifiers near the sensors. There are three receiver boards, two Digital Processing Units (DPU) and two Low Voltage Power Supply (LVPS) boards in a box within a radiation vault at the centre of the JUICE spacecraft. Together, the integrated RPWI system can carry out an ambitious planetary science investigation in and around the Galilean icy moons and the Jovian space environment. Some of the most important science objectives and instrument capabilities are described here. RPWI focuses, apart from cold plasma studies, on the understanding of how, through electrodynamic and electromagnetic coupling, the momentum and energy transfer occur with the icy Galilean moons, their surfaces and salty conductive sub-surface oceans. The RPWI instrument is planned to be operational during most of the JUICE mission, during the cruise phase, in the Jovian magnetosphere, during the icy moon flybys, and in particular Ganymede orbit, and may deliver data from the near surface during the final crash orbit.

The solar wind and its embedded magnetic field, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) together with magnetic reconnection power the large-scale plasma and magnetic flux circulation in the Earth’s magnetosphere-ionosphere system. This circulation is termed as convection and its strength is controlled by the north-south IMF component (IMF Bz). In recent years, an interest has arisen to investigate the lesser-known role of the dusk-dawn component (IMF By) in convection. It has been previously known though that prevailing nonzero IMF By can cause plasma flow asymmetries in the high-latitude ionosphere, but how the magnetospheric flows, for instance, in the magnetotail plasma sheet are affected, remains to be investigated. In this article, we introduce the recent progress and the latest achievements in the research of the influence of IMF By on tail plasma sheet convection. The research progress has been rapid and it has revealed that both fast and slow convection are affected in a manner that is in accordance with the asymmetries observed in the ionospheric convection. The results indicate the significance of the IMF By component on magnetospheric convection and they represent a major advance in the field of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling.

We present the first high resolution global MHD with coupled inner magnetosphere simulation results of an observed theta aurora event. We use the Space Weather Modeling Framework in the Geospace configuration, which produces accurate field aligned current closure in the ionosphere that is integral to theta aurora formation. At the location of the observed theta aurora, the simulation produces a narrow channel of Joule heating along both open and closed field lines, and between a pair of oppositely directed field-aligned current sheets in the ionosphere. We demonstrate that this Joule heating pattern that we identify as theta aurora maps to a reconnection region at the magnetotail flanks as well as in the distant magnetotail. The theta aurora maps to a cross-tail current disruption and field-aligned current source region in a highly twisted magnetotail.

Transpolar arcs (TPAs) are often cusp-aligned. Especially when multiple TPAs appear simultaneously, they join at the auroral signature of the cusp. Here we investigate the dayside connection point of TPAs using Defense Meteorological Satellite Program measurements and identify three cases where the tip of the TPA ends in a localized brightening. One is a typical cusp spot with a TPA attached. The cusp appears just poleward of the oval with a near circular shape. In the second case, multiple cusp spots are observed over a 3 MLT wide region, each connected to a TPA. In the third case, the brightening at the tip of a TPA is identified as high-latitude dayside aurora (HiLDA). Cusp aurora appears between the HiLDA and the duskside oval. Plasma flows and particle characteristics indicate a lobe origin of the HiLDA. Our results indicate a more complicated connection between TPAs and dayside aurora than previously anticipated.

Context. We investigated the response of the Venusian atmospheric ion escape under the effect of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) using the Latmos Hybrid Simulation (LatHyS). Aims. In particular, we focused on the influence of extreme ICME dynamic pressures and temperatures, with the temperature being a parameter that has not been extensively studied in the past. Methods. Simulations were performed for two different dynamic pressures and three different temperatures. For the case of the dynamic pressure simulations, a density and a velocity enhancement event were studied separately. The H+ and O+ ion escape was then examined and compared for different escape channels. Results. In both dynamic pressure enhancement cases, we find that there is no clear dependence of the O+ ion escape on the dynamic pressure, which is consistent with observations. On the other hand, the temperature of the incoming solar wind positively influences the H+ and O+ ion escape. This is attributed in part to the enhanced gyroradius of the particles, which allows them to penetrate deeper into the planet’s atmosphere.

This study presents a re-evaluation of the Kullen and Janhunen (2004, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-22-951-2004) global northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) simulation, using the Grand Unified Magnetosphere–Ionosphere Coupling Simulation version 4 (GUMICS-4), a global MHD model. We investigate the dynamic coupling between northward IMF conditions and the Earth’s magnetotail and compare the results to observation-based mechanisms for the formation of transpolar arcs. The results of this study reveal that under northward IMF conditions (and northward IMF initialization), a large closed field line region forms in the magnetotail, with similarities to transpolar arc structures observed from spacecraft data. This interpretation is supported by the simultaneous increase of closed flux measured in the magnetotail. However, the reconnection configuration differs in several respects from previously theorized magnetotail structures that have been inferred from both observations and simulations results and associated with transpolar arcs. We observe that dawn–dusk lobe regions form as a result of high-latitude reconnection during the initialization stages, which later come into contact as the change in the IMF By component causes the magnetotail to twist. We conclude that in the GUMICS simulation, transpolar arc-like structures are formed as a result of reconnection in the magnetotail, rather than high-latitude reconnection or due to the mapping of the plasma sheet through a twisted magnetotail as interpreted from previous analysis of GUMICS simulations.

We statistically investigate convective earthward fast flows using data measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in the tail plasma sheet during 2017–2021. We focus on “frozen in” fast flows and investigate the importance of different electric field components in the Sun-Earth (V⊥x) and dusk-dawn (V⊥y) velocity components perpendicular to the magnetic field. We find that a majority of the fast flow events (52% of 429) have the north-south electric field component (Ez) as the most relevant or dominating component whereas 26% are so-called conventional type fast flows with Ey and Ex as the relevant components. The rest of the flow events, 22%, fall into the two ’mixed’ categories, of which almost all these fast flows, 20% of 429, have Ey and Ez important for V⊥x and V⊥y, respectively. There is no Y-location preference for any type of the fast flows. The conventional fast flows are detected rather close to the neutral sheet whereas the other types can be measured farther away. Typical total speeds are highest in the mixed category. Typical perpendicular speeds are comparably high in the conventional and mixed categories. The slowest fast flows are measured in the Ez category. Most of the fast flow events are measured in the substorm recovery phase. Prevailing interplanetary magnetic field By conditions influence the V⊥y direction and the influence is most efficient for the Ez-dominated fast flows.

Multiple transpolar arcs appearing simultaneously in the polar cap have gained much interest in recent years. By analyzing Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imagers data, we report for the first time, that less than half of the multiple arc events occur simultaneously in both hemispheres. In 60% of the cases, multiple arcs appear in only one hemisphere. There is a clear difference in interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions for those two groups. Conjugate multiple arcs appear on average during stronger northward IMF and smaller IMF clock angles than non-conjugate multiple arcs. Only non-conjugate multiple arcs show a dependence on IMF B-X. They form in the northern (southern) hemisphere during negative (positive) B-X. An IMF B-X induced interhemispheric asymmetry in the magnetospheric field line topology might explain why multiple arcs appear sometimes in only one hemisphere.

We investigate the magnetic forces (the magnetic pressure gradient force, the curvature force, and their sum the j x B-force) associated with earthward bursty bulk flows (BBFs) using Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) data from five tail seasons (2017-2021). For the first time, the magnetic forces are inferred downtail of XGSM = -20 R-E and in the GSM XY and YZ planes. The results suggest that BBFs tend to be accelerated earthward by the magnetic pressure gradient force tailward of similar to 19 R-E and decelerated closer to that distance in the 2017-2018 data. The force magnitudes increase with distance. This is in accordance with earlier Cluster results. In the 2019-2021 data, the pressure gradient force magnitudes are generally smaller and no clear distance for the acceleration reversal can be determined. The curvature forces for both 2017-2018 and 2019-2021 BBFs indicate earthward acceleration independent of distance, consistent with the Cluster measurements. The sum, the j x B-force, suggests for the 2017-2018 BBFs earthward acceleration tailward of XGSM similar to 15 R-E and deceleration within that distance, also consistent with Cluster. In contrast, the 2019-2021 BBFs show general earthward acceleration by j x B independent of distance. In the GSM XY plane, the average (j x B)(xy) vectors are earthward, and in the premidnight and postmidnight dawnward for the 2017-2018 BBFs. For 2019-2021, the average (j x B)(xy) vectors have components toward the tail center. In the GSM YZ plane, the average (j x B)(yz) vectors are toward the neutral sheet.