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We quantify the contributions of different convection states to the magnetic flux through-put of the magnetosphere during 2010. To do this we provide a continuous classification of convection state for the duration of 2010 based upon observations of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field, geomagnetic indices, and field-aligned currents measured by the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE). Convection states are defined as 1) quiet and 2) weak activity, substorm 3) growth, 4) expansion, and 5) recovery phases, 6) substorm driven phase (when relatively steady magnetospheric convection occurs), 7) recovery bays (when recovery phase is accompanied by a negative excursion of the AL electrojet index), and 8) periods of multiple intensifications (storm-time periods when continuous short-period AL activity occur). The magnetosphere is quiet for 46% of the time, when very little convection takes place. The majority of convection occurs during growth and driven phases (21% and 38%, respectively, of open magnetic flux accumulation by dayside reconnection). We discuss these results in the context of the expanding/contracting polar cap model of convection, and describe a framework within which isolated substorms and disturbances during periods of more continuous solar wind-magnetosphere driving can be understood.

The Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) has revolutionized the way in which we can study the electrical current systems present over the poles of Earth. With high cadence measurements taken in both hemispheres, the data has proven invaluable in developing our understanding of the current systems that couple the magnetosphere and ionosphere and how they change in response to space weather. By employing the AMPERE data set, we aim to offer new insights into the complex and dynamic region 1 and region 2 current systems as they respond to the impact of solar wind disturbances on the magnetosphere and the driving of geomagnetic storms.We investigate the relationship between the hemispherically-integrated current flowing into or out of each pole and upstream solar wind parameters to understand how these currents are driven. As expected, current magnitude increases with increasing interplanetary magnetic field strength and solar wind speed. A key aim of the analysis is to determine if current magnitude saturates under strongly driven conditions, in the same way that the cross-polar cap potential is known to saturate. We present preliminary results, indicating a variety of behaviours at high driving, and discuss these in terms of theories of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling.

Transpolar arcs (TPAs) are auroral features that occur polewards of the main auroral oval, at latitudes where auroras are less common, suggesting that the magnetosphere has acquired a complicated magnetic topology. They are primarily a northward interplanetary magnetic field auroral phenomenon, and their formation and evolution have no single explanation that is unanimously agreed upon. An automated detection algorithm has been developed to detect the occurrence of TPAs in UV images captured by the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager (SSUSI) instrument onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft, in order to further study their occurrence. Via this detection algorithm TPAs are identified as a peak in the average radiance intensity above 12.5° colatitude, in two or more of the wavelengths/bands sensed by SSUSI.Using the detection algorithm on observations from the years 2010 to 2016, over 5000 images containing TPAs are identified. The occurrence of these TPA images suggest a seasonal dependence, with more TPAs observed in the winter hemisphere. The orbital plane of DMSP has been investigated as a possible explanation of the dependences in the results of the detection algorithm. It has been found that each DMSP spacecraft has a different bias due to its orbit. For the spacecraft of interest (F16, F17 and F18) this leads to a preferential observation of the northern hemisphere, with the detection algorithm missing TPAs in the southern hemisphere around 01 - 06 UT. No seasonal bias has been found for these spacecraft.We also discover that the majority of TPAs occur in the dawn sector of the polar cap, which is unexpected in current TPA models. Comparing with previous statistical surveys, we note that the dawn-dusk asymmetry has been present but has not gained significant attention. We suggest that field-aligned current polarity may play a role in the observed asymmetry.We discuss the ramifications of these findings in terms of proposed TPA generation mechanisms and suggest reasons for the seasonal dependence including it being a reflection of probability of seeing TPAs due to visibility.

International audience; We present the first long-term characterization of ionization layers in the lower ionosphere of Mars (below ∼90 km), a region inaccessible to orbital in-situ observations, based on an analysis of radar echo blackouts observed on Mars Express and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from 2006 to 2017. A blackout occurs when the expected surface reflection is partly or totally attenuated for portions of an observation. Enhanced ionization at altitudes of 60-90 km, below the main ionospheric electron density peak, leads to increased absorption of the radar signal, resulting in the blackouts. We find that (a) MARSIS, operating at frequencies between 1.8 and 5 MHz, suffered more blackouts than SHARAD, which has a higher carrier frequency (20 MHz), (b) there is a clear correlation of blackout occurrence with solar cycle, (c) there is no apparent relationship between blackout occurrence and crustal magnetic fields, and (d) blackouts occur during both nightside and dayside observations, although the peak occurrence is deep on the nightside. Analysis of Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Solar Energetic Particle electron counts between 20 and 200 keV demonstrates that these electrons are likely responsible for attenuating the radar signals. We investigate the minimum SEP electron fluxes required to ionize the lower atmosphere and produce measurable attenuation. When both radars experience a blackout, the SEP electron fluxes are at their highest. Based on several case studies, we find that the average SEP spectrum responsible for a blackout is particularly enhanced at its higher energy end, that is, above 70 keV.

We present the first long-term characterization of the lower ionosphere of Mars, a region previously inaccessible to orbital observations, based on an analysis of radar echo blackouts observed by MARSIS on Mars Express and SHARAD on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from 2006 to 2017. A blackout occurs when the expected surface reflection is partly to fully attenuated for portions of an observation. Enhanced ionization at altitudes of 60 to 90 km, below the main ionospheric electron density peak, results in the absorption of the radar signal, leading to a radar blackout. MARSIS, operating at frequencies between 1.8 and 5 MHz suffered more blackouts than SHARAD, which has a higher carrier frequency (20 MHz). More events are seen during solar maximum while there is no apparent relationship between blackout occurrence and crustal magnetic fields. Blackouts do occur during both nightside and dayside observations, and have an interesting variation with solar zenith angle. Analysis of MAVEN Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) electron counts between 20 and 200 keV during selected events demonstrates that these electrons are responsible for such events, and we investigate the minimum SEP electron fluxes required to ionize the lower atmosphere and produce measurable attenuation. When both radars observe a radar blackout at the same time, the SEP electron fluxes are at their highest. For certain events, we find that the average spectrum responsible for a blackout is particularly enhanced at the higher energy end of the spectrum, i.e. above 70 keV . This study is, therefore, important for future communications for human exploration of Mars.

Full list of authors: Bunce, Emma J.; Martindale, Adrian; Lindsay, Simon; Muinonen, Karri; Rothery, David A.; Pearson, Jim; McDonnell, Ivor; Thomas, Chris; Thornhill, Julian; Tikkanen, Tuomo; Feldman, Charly; Huovelin, Juhani; Korpela, Seppo; Esko, Eero; Lehtolainen, Arto; Treis, Johannes; Majewski, Petra; Hilchenbach, Martin; Väisänen, Timo; Luttinen, Arto; Kohout, Tomas; Penttilä, Antti; Bridges, John; Joy, Katherine H.; Alcacera-Gil, Maria Angeles; Alibert, Guilhem; Anand, Mahesh; Bannister, Nigel; Barcelo-Garcia, Corinne; Bicknell, Chris; Blake, Oliver; Bland, Phil; Butcher, Gillian; Cheney, Andy; Christensen, Ulrich; Crawford, Tony; Crawford, Ian A.; Dennerl, Konrad; Dougherty, Michele; Drumm, Paul; Fairbend, Raymond; Genzer, Maria; Grande, Manuel; Hall, Graeme P.; Hodnett, Rosie; Houghton, Paul; Imber, Suzanne; Kallio, Esa; Lara, Maria Luisa; Balado Margeli, Ana; Mas-Hesse, Miguel J.; Maurice, Sylvestre; Milan, Steve; Millington-Hotze, Peter; Nenonen, Seppo; Nittler, Larry; Okada, Tatsuaki; Ormö, Jens; Perez-Mercader, Juan; Poyner, Richard; Robert, Eddy; Ross, Duncan; Pajas-Sanz, Miriam; Schyns, Emile; Seguy, Julien; Strüder, Lothar; Vaudon, Nathalie; Viceira-Martín, Jose; Williams, Hugo; Willingale, Dick; Yeoman, Tim.-- This is an open access article., The Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer is a highly novel instrument that is designed to map Mercury’s elemental composition from orbit at two angular resolutions. By observing the fluorescence X-rays generated when solar-coronal X-rays and charged particles interact with the surface regolith, MIXS will be able to measure the atomic composition of the upper ∼10-20 μm of Mercury’s surface on the day-side. Through precipitating particles on the night-side, MIXS will also determine the dynamic interaction of the planet’s surface with the surrounding space environment. MIXS is composed of two complementary elements: MIXS-C is a collimated instrument which will achieve global coverage at a similar spatial resolution to that achieved (in the northern hemisphere only – i.e. ∼ 50 – 100 km) by MESSENGER; MIXS-T is the first ever X-ray telescope to be sent to another planet and will, during periods of high solar activity (or intense precipitation of charged particles), reveal the X-ray flux from Mercury at better than 10 km resolution. The design, performance, scientific goals and operations plans of the instrument are discussed, including the initial results from commissioning in space. © 2020, The Author(s)., The MIXS team has gratefully received funding from a consortium of agencies across Europe. The UK Space Agency are the lead funding agency, supported by national contributions from our amazing panEuropean team and the European Space Agency. UK funding has come from, the science and technology facilities council - STFC (grant numbers: PP/E002056/1; PP/E002412/1; ST/L000776/1; ST/M002101/1; ST/M002187/1; ST/N00339X/1; ST/N000471/1; ST/P001963/1; ST/S002596/1; ST/J000213/1), the United Kingdom Space Agency -UKSA (grant numbers: ST/P000908/1; ST/T001542/1; ST/K003194/1; ST/L000318/1; ST/M000702/1) and the European Space Agency -ESA (contract numbers: 4000118221/16/ES/JD; RES-PSS/NR/035-B/200; 20919/07/NF/FG). Images shown in Fig. 4, Fig. 6 and Fig. 9 are adapted from drawings produced by MagnaParva Ltd. under ESA contract number 20919/07/NL/FG. EJB is supported by a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. The DEPFET X-ray detectors were contributed with the support of dedicated Max Planck Society grants by MPG and MPS as well as ESA contract number 4000108312. The Spanish contribution was funded by MEC/MINECO/MICINN grants; AYA200803467/ESP, AYA2011-24780, AYA2012-39362-C02-01, ESP2014-59789-P and ESP2015-65712-C5-1-R. Finnish hardware contributions were funded by Tekes (now "Business Finland") during the era from 2004 to 2019. Research at the University of Helsinki is supported, in part, by the Academy of Finland (grant number 1325805).

We present an analysis of radar blackouts observed by MARSIS on Mars Express and SHARAD on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the interval 2006 – 2017. The period of interest encompasses the extended solar minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24 as well as the solar maximum of cycle 24. Blackouts have been identified by eye through scanning daily plots of the surface reflection for both radars. A blackout occurs when, for no apparent instrumental reason, the surface reflection normally expected is either not observed (total) or when the surface reflection is seen for only part of the orbit or the surface reflection is both weaker and spread over a significant time delay (partial). Such blackouts are caused by enhanced ionisation at altitudes below the main ionospheric electron density peak resulting in increased absorption of the radar signal. There are more occurrences observed by MARSIS than SHARAD, which is expected due to the lower absorption at the higher operating frequency of SHARAD. We also observe more blackouts during solar maximum than solar minimum. Indeed, there are no total blackouts during the extended solar minimum, although both radars do have partial blackouts. There is no apparent relationship between blackout occurrence and crustal magnetic fields. Following previous work, which has indicated that solar energetic particles, specifically electrons are responsible for the enhanced ionisation in the atmosphere, we also present the analysis of the MAVEN SEP electrons between 20 keV and 2 MeV during events when all three spacecraft were operational. We find that the SEP electron flux-energy relationship is much enhanced during the total blackouts, in particular where both radars are impacted, while for partial blackouts the flux-energy spectrum is closer to those from orbits where no blackout occurs. We also find that for certain events, the average spectrum which result in a blackout is particularly enhanced at the higher energy end of the spectrum, above 50 keV. The average spectra from each condition is presented. We conclude that there is a higher probability of a radar blackout during solar maximum, that crustal magnetic fields play no apparent role in the their observational occurrence, that the higher energy (< 50 keV) electrons are responsible, and that for events where both radars observe a radar blackout the SEP electron fluxes are at their highest.

Under periods of strong solar wind driving, the magnetopause can become compressed, playing a significant role in draining electrons from the outer radiation belt. Also termed “magnetopause shadowing,” this loss process has traditionally been attributed to a combination of magnetospheric compression and outward radial diffusion of electrons. However, the drift paths of relativistic electrons and the location of the magnetopause are usually calculated from statistical models and, as such, may not represent the time‐varying nature of this highly dynamic process. In this study, we construct a database ∼20,000 spacecraft crossings of the dayside magnetopause to quantify the accuracy of the commonly used Shue et al. (1998, https://doi.org/10.1029/98JA01103) model. We find that, for the majority of events (74%), the magnetopause model can be used to estimate magnetopause location to within ±1 RE. However, if the magnetopause is compressed below 8 RE, the observed magnetopause is greater than 1 RE inside of the model location on average. The observed magnetopause is also significantly displaced from the model location during storm sudden commencements, when measurements are on average 6% closer to the radiation belts, with a maximum of 42%. We find that the magnetopause is rarely close enough to the outer radiation belt to cause direct magnetopause shadowing, and hence rapid outward radial transport of electrons is also required. We conclude that statistical magnetopause parameterizations may not be appropriate during dynamic compressions. We suggest that statistical models should only be used during quiescent solar wind conditions and supplemented by magnetopause observations wherever possible.

We use the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry global magnetohydrodynamics model to study the effects of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) $\mathit{B}_{y}$ component on the coupling between the solar wind and magnetosphere-ionosphere system when IMF $\mathit{B}_{z}$ $>$0. We describe the evolution of how a magnetospheric $\mathit{B}_{y}$ component is induced on closed field lines during these conditions. Starting from dayside lobe reconnection, the magnetic tension on newly reconnected field lines redistribute the open flux asymmetrically between the two hemispheres. This results in asymmetric magnetic energy density in the lobes. Shear flows are induced to restore equilibrium, and these flows are what effectively induces a local $\mathit{B}_{y}$ component. We show the radial dependence of the induced $\mathit{B}_{y}$ and compare the results to the induced $\mathit{B}_{y}$ during southward IMF conditions. We also show the response and reconfiguration time of the inner magnetosphere to IMF $\mathit{B}_{y}$ reversals during northward IMF $\mathit{B}_{z}$. A superposed epoch analysis of magnetic field measurements from seven Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite spacecraft at different local times both for negative-to-positive and positive-to-negative IMF $\mathit{B}_{y}$ reversals is presented. We find that the induced $\mathit{B}_{y}$ responds within 16 min of the arrival of IMF $\mathit{B}_{y}$ at the bow shock, and it completely reconfigures within 47 min.

J. A. C. and S. E. M. gratefully acknowledge support from the Science Technology Facilities Council (STFC) consolidated grant ST/N000749/1. A. R. F. is supported by an STFC postgraduate studentship. The work at the Birkeland Centre for Space Science is supported by the Research Council of Norway under contract 223252/F50. The DMSP/SSUSI file type EDR‐AUR data were obtained from http://ssusi.jhuapl.edu (data version 0106, software version 7.0.0, calibration period version E0018). AMPERE data were obtained from http://ampere.jhuapl.edu. Solar wind data were obtained from the NASA/GSFC OMNI facility (http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov). The authors wish to thank the SSUSI team for providing and assisting with the data products, and to M‐T. Walach for helpful discussions. The authors extend their thanks to the anonymous referees whose comments and suggestions have greatly improved this manuscript. This research used the ALICE and SPECTRE High‐Performance Computing Facility at the University of Leicester.

Under steady-state conditions the magnetopause location is described as a pressure balance between internal magnetic pressures and the external dynamic pressure of the solar wind. The question is, does this approximation hold during more dynamic solar wind features?Under more extreme solar wind driving, such as high solar wind pressures or strong southward-directed interplanetary magnetic fields, this boundary is significantly more compressed than in steady-state, playing a significant role in the depletion of magnetospheric plasma from the Van Allen Radiation Belts, via magnetopause shadowing. Large step-changes in solar wind conditions enable the real magnetopause to have a significant time-dependence which empirical models cannot capture.We use a database of ~20,000 magnetopause crossings, to determine how the measured magnetopause differs from a statistical model, and under which conditions. We find that observed magnetopause is on average 6% closer to the radiation belts, with a maximum of 42%, during periods of sudden dynamic pressure enhancement, such as during storm sudden commencement. Our results demonstrate that empirical magnetopause models such as the Shue et al. [1998] model should be used cautiously to interpret energetic electron losses by magnetopause shadowing.

We study the role of substorms and steady magnetospheric convection (SMC) in magnetic flux transport in the magnetosphere, using observations of field‐aligned currents by the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment. We identify two classes of substorm, with onsets above and below 65° magnetic latitude, which display different nightside field‐aligned current morphologies. We show that the low‐latitude onsets develop a poleward‐expanding auroral bulge, and identify these as substorms that manifest ionospheric convection‐braking in the auroral bulge region as suggested by Grocott et al. (2009, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-591-2009). We show that the high‐latitude substorms, which do not experience braking, can evolve into SMC events if the interplanetary magnetic field remains southward for a prolonged period following onset. We conclude that during periods of ongoing driving, the magnetosphere displays repeated substorm activity or SMC depending on the rate of driving and the open magnetic flux content of the magnetosphere prior to onset. We speculate that sawtooth events are an extreme case of repeated onsets and that substorms triggered by northward‐turnings of the interplanetary magnetic field mark the cessation of periods of SMC. Our results provide a new explanation for the differing modes of response of the terrestrial system to solar wind‐magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling by invoking friction between the ionosphere and atmosphere. publishedVersion

Presently, all empirical coupling functions quantifying the solar wind - magnetosphere energy- or magnetic flux conversion, assume that the coupling is independent of the sign of the dawn-dusk component (By) of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). In this paper we present observations strongly suggesting an explicit IMF By effect on the solar wind - magnetosphere coupling. When the Earth's dipole is tilted in the direction corresponding to northern winter, positive IMF By is found to on average lead to a larger polar cap than when IMF By is negative during otherwise similar conditions. This explicit IMF By effect is found to reverse when the Earth's dipole is inclined in the opposite direction (northern summer), and is consistently observed from both hemispheres using the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) to infer the size of the region 1/2 current system. Two interpretations are presented: 1) The dayside reconnection rate is affected by the combination of dipole tilt and IMF By sign in a manner explaining the observations 2) The combination of dipole tilt and IMF By sign affect the global conditions for maintaining a given nightside reconnection rate. The observations as well as idealized magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model runs are analyzed and discussed in light of the two different interpretations in order to enhance our understanding of this explicit IMF By effect.

The loss of signal detection by the sub surface radars currently operational on Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can be evidence of enhanced ionisation at lower altitudes in the Martian atmosphere as a result of solar energetic particles penetrating to these altitudes. The MARSIS instrument on Mars Express and SHARAD on MRO operate at different frequencies, with MARSIS up to 5 MHz and SHARAD between 10 and 20 MHZ. In addition MARSIS can operate in an additional mode as an Active Ionospheric Sounder, although here we focus only on the sub surface mode. We present an analysis of the data during the lifetimes of both instruments, extending from 2005 to 2018. Here we identify the radar blackouts as either total or partial and investigate their occurrence as a function of solar cycle. We find a clear solar cycle dependence with more events occurring during the solar maximum years, as expected. However, we also note the duration of events is often much longer than expected, in excess of several days, sometimes reaching 10 – 14 days. Investigation of other data sets, notably from the MAVEN SEP instrument complements the analysis. We finally compare our observations at Mars with similar observations at Earth.

The coupling between the Earth’s magnetic field and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) transported by the solar wind results in a cycle of magnetic field lines opening and closing generally known as the Dungey substorm cycle, mostly governed by the process of magnetic reconnection. The geomagnetic field lines can therefore have either a closed or an open topology, i.e. lower latitude field lines are closed (map from southern ionosphere to the northern), while higher latitude field lines are open (map from one polar ionosphere into interplanetary space). Closed field lines can trap electrically charged particles that bounce between mirror points located in the North and South hemispheres while drifting in longitude around the Earth, forming the plasmasphere, the radiation belts and the ring current. The outer boundary of the plasmasphere is the plasmapause. Its location is mostly driven by the interplay of the corotation electric field of ionospheric origin, and the convection electric field that results from the interaction between the IMF and the geomagnetic field. At times of prolonged intense coupling between these fields, the response of the magnetosphere becomes global and a geomagnetic storm develops. The ring current created by the motion of the trapped energetic particles intensifies and then decays as the storm abates. This study aims to find a possible relationship between the evolution of the trapped population and the process of magnetic reconnection during storm times. The EUV instrument on board the NASA-IMAGE spacecraft observed the distribution of the trapped helium ions (He+) in the plasmasphere. We consider several cases of intense geomagnetic storms observed by the IMAGE satellite. We identify the plasmapause location (Lpp) during those cases. We find a strong correlation between the Dst index and Lpp. The ring current and the trapped particles are expected to vary during storms. We use the Tsyganenko magnetic field model to map the electric potential between the Heppner-Maynard boundary (HMB) in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere and estimate the voltage and electric field in the vicinity of the plasmapause. The ionospheric electric field is deduced from the ionospheric convection velocity measured by the SuperDARN (SD) radar network at high latitudes. The tangential electric field component of the moving plasmapause boundary is estimated from IMAGE-EUV observations of the plasmasphere and is compared with expectations based on the SD data. We combine measurements of the trapped population from IMAGE-EUV and IMAGE-FUV observations of the aurora to better understand and quantify the variability of the Earth's outer radiation belt during strong storms. The auroral precipitation at ionospheric latitude is studied using FUV imaging and compared to the He+ response during the storms.

High-frequency (HF) coherent radars are widely applied for studying electrodynamic processes in the Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is an international network of such radars located at high- and middle-latitude regions in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. A major criterion of the HF coherent radar technique entails that the HF waves propagate orthogonal to the geomagnetic field lines (aspect angle urn:x-wiley:rds:media:rds20877:rds20877-math-00011°) in the ionospheric irregularity region from where backscatter originates. In this paper we present an HF ray tracing simulation of the performance of three proposed equatorial HF radar systems for the African equatorial sector. We use a number of realistic average ionospheres deduced from the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2012 model and magnetic field geometries from the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) to determine likely propagation paths and orthogonality conditions for such radar systems. The east-west azimuth ( urn:x-wiley:rds:media:rds20877:rds20877-math-000225° range) has a significant likelihood of achieving a SuperDARN-type backscatter in the African equatorial sector, mainly due to the prevailing magnetic field geometry. This analysis provides a feasibility study for developing a SuperDARN-like radar for studying the equatorial ionosphere over the African longitude sector, for example, in determining the technical radar characteristics such as preferable operating frequencies, antenna boresight orientation, and azimuth coverage and provides a simulation of the expected localization of radar backscatter as a function of radar location and beam direction, as well as the time of day, season, and sunspot number.

This paper reviews our current understanding of auroral features that appear poleward of the main auroral oval within the polar cap, especially those that are known as Sun-aligned arcs, transpolar arcs, or theta auroras. They tend to appear predominantly during periods of quiet geomagnetic activity or northwards directed interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We also introduce polar rain aurora which has been considered as a phenomenon on open field lines. We describe the morphology of such auroras, their development and dynamics in response to solar wind-magnetosphere coupling processes, and the models that have been developed to explain them.

Presently, all empirical coupling functions quantifying the solar wind—magnetosphere energy—or magnetic flux conversion assume that the coupling is independent of the sign of the dawn-dusk component (B𝑦) of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). In this paper we present observations strongly suggesting an explicit IMF B𝑦 effect on the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling. When the Earth's dipole is tilted in the direction corresponding to northern winter, positive IMF B𝑦 is found to on average lead to a larger polar cap than when IMF B𝑦 is negative during otherwise similar conditions. This explicit IMF B𝑦 effect is found to reverse when the Earth's dipole is inclined in the opposite direction (northern summer) and is consistently observed from both hemispheres. We interpret the different responses of the polar cap size due to the sign of IMF B𝑦 to likely be a result of differences in the dayside reconnection rate. publishedVersion

We use remote sensing of the proton aurora with the IMAGE-FUV SI12 (Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration–Far Ultraviolet–Spectrographic Imaging at 121.8 nm) instrument and radar measurements of the ionospheric convection from the SuperDARN (Super Dual Aurora Radar Network) facility to estimate the open magnetic flux in the Earth's magnetosphere and the reconnection rates at the dayside magnetopause and in the magnetotail during intervals of steady magnetospheric convection (SMC). We find that SMC intervals occur with relatively high open magnetic flux (average ∼ 0.745 GWb, standard deviation ∼ 0.16 GWb), which is often found to be nearly steady, when the magnetic flux opening and closure rates approximately balance around 55 kV on average, with a standard deviation of 21 kV. We find that the residence timescale of open magnetic flux, defined as the ratio between the open magnetospheric flux and the flux closure rate, is roughly 4 h during SMCs. Interestingly, this number is approximately what can be deduced from the discussion of the length of the tail published by Dungey (1965), assuming a solar wind speed of ∼ 450 km s−1. We also infer an enhanced convection velocity in the tail, driving open magnetic flux to the nightside reconnection site. We compare our results with previously published studies in order to identify different magnetospheric modes. These are ordered by increasing open magnetic flux and reconnection rate as quiet conditions, SMCs, substorms (with an important overlap between these last two) and sawtooth intervals.

We present a scenario resulting in time-dependent behaviour of the bow shock and transient, local ion reflection under unchanging solar wind conditions. Dayside magnetopause reconnection produces flux transfer events driving fast-mode wave fronts in the magnetosheath. These fronts push out the bow shock surface due to their increased downstream pressure. The resulting bow shock deformations lead to a configuration favourable to localized ion reflection and thus the formation of transient, travelling foreshock-like field-aligned ion beams. This is identified in two-dimensional global magnetospheric hybrid-Vlasov simulations of the Earth's magnetosphere performed using the Vlasiator model (http://vlasiator.fmi.fi). We also present observational data showing the occurrence of dayside reconnection and flux transfer events at the same time as Geotail observations of transient foreshock-like field-aligned ion beams. The spacecraft is located well upstream of the foreshock edge and the bow shock, during a steady southward interplanetary magnetic field and in the absence of any solar wind or interplanetary magnetic field perturbations. This indicates the formation of such localized ion foreshocks.

This work was supported by Russian Science Foundation grant 14-17-00072. The CLUSTER-based tail magnetic flux computation for years 2001–2009 was supported by FP7 ECLAT project, they are now available via CSA. We are grateful to all teams for the opportunity to use their observational data. We thank NASA CDAWeb (http://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp_public/) for IMF, solar wind, and magnetic index data; the AMPERE project (http://ampere.jhuapl.edu) for AMPERE data; the THEMIS website (http://themis.ssl.berkeley.edu/) for THEMIS spacecraft data, Cluster Science Archive (http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/csa) for Cluster data; the IMAGE-FUV data were supplied by the NASA Space Science Data Centre(NSSDC). The global MHD simulations were made possible due to NASA Community Coordinated Modeling Center effort (http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/). S.E.M. was supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), UK, grant ST/K001000/1. The work at the Birkeland Centre for Space Centre, University of Bergen, Norway, was supported by the Research Council of Norway/CoE under contract 223252/F50. We also thank Stepan Dubyagin for help in calculating THEMIS total pressure, Peter Boakes for data on magnetotail plasma domains, and Marianna Kholeva for help with the manuscript preparation.

The ultimate formation mechanism of the substorm current wedge (SCW) remains to-date unclear. In this study, we investigate its relationship to plasma flows at substorm onset and throughout the following expansion phase. We revisit the case of September 8, 2002, which has been defined as "the best textbook example for a localized substorm onset observation" because of its excellent coverage by both spacecraft in the magnetotail and ground-based observatories is revisited. We found that a dense sequence of arrival of nightside flux transfer events (which can be understood as the lobe magnetic signature due to a bursty bulk flow travelling earthward in the central plasmasheet) in the near-Earth tail leads to a modulation (and further step-like built-up) of the SCW intensity during the substorm expansion phase. In addition, we found that small SCWs are created also during the growth phase of the event in association with another less intense sequence of NFTEs. The differences between the sequence of NFTEs in the growth and expansion phase are discussed. We conclude that the envelope of the magnetic disturbances which we typically refer to as an intense magnetic substorm is the result of a group or sequence of more intense and more frequent NFTEs.

We reduce measurements made by the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) to give the total Birkeland (field-aligned) current flowing in both hemispheres in monthly and hourly bins. We analyze these totals using 6 years of data (2010-2015) to examine solar zenith angle-driven variations in the total Birkeland current flowing in both hemispheres, simultaneously, for the first time. A diurnal variation is identified in the total Birkeland current flowing, consistent with variations in the solar zenith angle. A seasonal variation is also identified, with more current flowing in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere during Bartels rotations in northern (southern) summer. For months close to equinox, more current is found to flow in the Northern Hemisphere, contrary to our expectations. We also conduct the first test of the Milan (2013) model for estimating Birkeland current magnitudes, with modifications made to account for solar contributions to ionospheric conductance based on the observed variation of the Birkeland currents with season and time of day. The modified model, using the value of $\Phi_D$ averaged by Bartels rotation (scaled by 1.7), is found to agree with the observed AMPERE currents, with a correlation of 0.87 in the Northern Hemisphere and 0.86 in the Southern Hemisphere. The improvement over the correlation with dayside reconnection rate is demonstrated to be a significant improvement to the model. The correlation of the residuals is found to be consistent with more current flowing in the Northern Hemisphere. This new observation of systematically larger current flowing in the Northern Hemisphere is discussed in the context of previous results which suggest that the Northern Hemisphere may react more strongly to dayside reconnection than the Southern Hemisphere.

Jupiter's banded structure undergoes strong temporal variations, changing the visible and infrared appearance of the belts and zones in a complex and turbulent way due to physical processes that are not yet understood. In this study we use ground-based 5-$\mu$m infrared data captured between 1984 and 2018 by 8 different instruments mounted on the Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawai'i and on the Very Large Telescope in Chile to analyze and characterize the long-term variability of Jupiter's cloud-forming region at the 1-4 bar pressure level. The data show a large temporal variability mainly at the equatorial and tropical latitudes, with a smaller temporal variability at mid-latitudes. We also compare the 5-$\mu$m-bright and -dark regions with the locations of the visible zones and belts and we find that these regions are not always co-located, specially in the southern hemisphere. We also present Lomb-Scargle and Wavelet Transform analyzes in order to look for possible periodicities of the brightness changes that could help us understand their origin and predict future events. We see that some of these variations occur periodically in time intervals of 4-8 years. The reasons of these time intervals are not understood and we explore potential connections to both convective processes in the deeper weather layer and dynamical processes in the upper troposphere and stratosphere. Finally we perform a Principal Component analysis to reveal a clear anticorrelation on the 5-$\mu$m brightness changes between the North Equatorial Belt and the South Equatorial Belt, suggesting a possible connection between the changes in these belts., Comment: Accepted in the Astronomical Journal

Electric currents flowing through near-Earth space (R ≤ 12 RE) can support a highly distorted magnetic field topology, changing particle drift paths and therefore having a nonlinear feedback on the currents themselves. A number of current systems exist in the magnetosphere, most commonly defined as (1) the dayside magnetopause Chapman–Ferraro currents, (2) the Birkeland field-aligned currents with high-latitude "region 1" and lower-latitude "region 2" currents connected to the partial ring current, (3) the magnetotail currents, and (4) the symmetric ring current. In the near-Earth nightside region, however, several of these current systems flow in close proximity to each other. Moreover, the existence of other temporal current systems, such as the substorm current wedge or "banana" current, has been reported. It is very difficult to identify a local measurement as belonging to a specific system. Such identification is important, however, because how the current closes and how these loops change in space and time governs the magnetic topology of the magnetosphere and therefore controls the physical processes of geospace. Furthermore, many methods exist for identifying the regions of near-Earth space carrying each type of current. This study presents a robust collection of these definitions of current systems in geospace, particularly in the near-Earth nightside magnetosphere, as viewed from a variety of observational and computational analysis techniques. The influence of definitional choice on the resulting interpretation of physical processes governing geospace dynamics is presented and discussed.

Average proton and electron auroral images are compiled from three years of observations by the IMAGE spacecraft, binned according to concurrent KP and upstream solar wind conditions measured by the ACE spacecraft. The solar wind parameters include solar wind velocity, density, and pressure, interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) magnitude and orientation, and an estimate of the magnetopause reconnection rate. We use both (a) the overall variation in brightness in the images and (b) the variation in location of the aurorae with respect to the binning parameters to determine which parameters best order the auroral response. We find that the brightness varies by a factor of ~50 with KP, a similar amount with estimated dayside reconnection voltage, ~15 with the IMF, ~3 with solar wind density, ~2 with solar wind velocity, and ~5 with pressure. Clearly, geomagnetic activity as measured by KP and auroral dynamics are closely associated. In terms of the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling that drives auroral dynamics, the IMF is of paramount importance in modulating this, with solar wind speed and density playing a lesser role. Dayside reconnection voltage, derived from the solar wind velocity and IMF magnitude and orientation, orders the data almost as well as KP, though we find a plateau in the auroral response between voltages of 100 and 150 kV. We also discuss changes in configuration and overall size of the average auroral oval with upstream conditions.

Earthward injections of energetic ions and electrons mark the onset of magnetospheric substorms. In the inner magnetosphere (L4), the energetic ions drift westward and the electrons eastward, thereby enhancing the equatorial ring current. Wave-particle interactions can accelerate these particles to radiation belt energies. The ions are injected slightly closer to Earth in the pre-midnight sector, leading to the formation of a radial polarisation field in the inner magnetosphere. This maps to a poleward electric field just equatorward of the auroral oval in the ionosphere. The poleward electric field is subsequently amplified by ionospheric feedback, thereby producing auroral westward flow channels (AWFCs). In terms of electric field strength, AWFCs are the strongest manifestation of substorms in the ionosphere. Because geomagnetic flux tubes are essentially equi-potentials, similar AWFC signatures should be observed simultaneously in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Here we present magnetically conjugate SuperDARN radar observations of AWFC activity observed in the pre-midnight sector during two substorm intervals including multiple onsets during the evening of 30 November 2002. The Northern Hemisphere observations were made with the Japanese radar located at King Salmon, Alaska (57, and the Southern Hemisphere observations with the Tasman International Geospace Environment Radar (TIGER) located at Bruny Island, Tasmania (55. LANL geosynchronous satellite observations of energetic ion and electron fluxes monitored the effects of substorms in the inner magnetosphere (L6). The radar-observed AWFC activity was coincident with activity observed at geosynchronous orbit, as well as westward current surges in the ionosphere observed using ground-based magnetometers. The location of AWFCs with respect to the auroral oval was inferred from FUV auroral images recorded on board the IMAGE spacecraft. DMSP SSIES ion drift measurements confirmed the presence of AWFCs equatorward of the auroral oval. Systematic asymmetries in the interhemispheric signatures of the AWFCs probably arose because the magnetic flux tubes were distorted at L shells passing close to the substorm dipolarisation region. Transient asymmetries were attributed to the development of nearby field-aligned potential drops and currents.

This study employs observations from several sources to determine the location of the polar cap boundary, or open/closed field line boundary, at all local times, allowing the amount of open flux in the magnetosphere to be quantified. These data sources include global auroral images from the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) instrument on board the Polar spacecraft, SuperDARN HF radar measurements of the convection flow, and low altitude particle measurements from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites, and the Fast Auroral SnapshoT (FAST) spacecraft. Changes in the open flux content of the magnetosphere are related to the rate of magnetic reconnection occurring at the magnetopause and in the magnetotail, allowing us to estimate the day- and nightside reconnection voltages during two substorm cycles. Specifically, increases in the polar cap area are found to be consistent with open flux being created when the IMF is oriented southwards and low-latitude magnetopause reconnection is ongoing, and decreases in area correspond to open flux being destroyed at substorm breakup. The polar cap area can continue to decrease for 100 min following the onset of substorm breakup, continuing even after substorm-associated auroral features have died away. An estimate of the dayside reconnection voltage, determined from plasma drift measurements in the ionosphere, indicates that reconnection can take place at all local times along the dayside portion of the polar cap boundary, and hence presumably across the majority of the dayside magnetopause. The observation of ionospheric signatures of bursty reconnection over a wide extent of local times supports this finding.Key words. Ionosphere (plasma convection; polar ionosphere) – Magnetospheric physics (magnetospheric configuration and dynamics)

Recently, a technique has been developed whereby the radial velocity, Vr, and longitude direction, β, of propagation of an outward-moving solar transient, such as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), can be estimated from its track in a time-elongation map produced using Heliospheric Imager (HI) observations from a single STEREO spacecraft. The method employed, which takes advantage of an artefact of projective geometry, is based on the evaluation of the best fit of the time-elongation profile of the transient, extracted from a time-elongation map, to a set of theoretical functions corresponding to known combinations of radial velocity and direction; here we present an initial theoretical assessment of the efficacy of this technique. As the method relies on the manual selection of points along the time-elongation profile, an assessment of the accuracy with which this is feasible, is initially made. The work then presented assesses theoretically this method of recovering the velocity and propagation direction of solar transients from their time-elongation profiles using a Monte-Carlo simulation approach. In particular, we assess the range of elongations over which it is necessary to make observations in order to accurately recover these parameters. Results of the Monte-Carlo simulations suggest that it is sufficient to track a solar transient out to around 40° elongation to provide accurate estimates of its associated radial velocity and direction; the accuracy to which these parameters can be estimated for a transient tracked over a particular elongation extent is, however, sensitive to its velocity and direction relative to the Sun-Spacecraft line. These initial results suggest that this technique based on single spacecraft STEREO/HI observations could prove extremely useful in terms of providing an early warning of a CME impact on the near-Earth environment.

We acknowledge the use of NASA/GSFC’s Space Physics Data Facility for OMNI data. Simulation results have been provided by the Community Coordinated Modeling Center at Goddard Space Flight Center through their public Runs on Request system (http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov). The CCMC is a multiagency partnership between NASA, AFMC, AFOSR, AFRL, AFWA, NOAA, NSF, and ONR (Paul-Tenfjord-032514-1). We thank the AMPERE team and the AMPERE Science Center for providing the Iridium-derived data products. This study was supported by the Research Council of Norway/CoE under contract 223252/F50.

Magnetic perturbations on ground at high latitudes are directly associated only with the divergence-free component of the height-integrated horizontal ionospheric current, $\textbf{J}_{\perp,df}$. Here we show how $\textbf{J}_{\perp,df}$ can be expressed as the total horizontal current $\textbf{J}_\perp$ minus its curl-free component, the latter being completely determined by the global Birkeland current pattern. Thus in regions where $\textbf{J}_\perp = 0$, the global Birkeland current distribution alone determines the local magnetic perturbation. We show with observations from ground and space that in the polar cap, the ground magnetic field perturbations tend to align with the Birkeland current contribution in darkness but not in sunlight. We also show that in sunlight, the magnetic perturbations are typically such that the equivalent overhead current is anti-parallel to the convection, indicating that the Hall current system dominates. Thus the ground magnetic field in the polar cap relates to different current systems in sunlight and in darkness.

We have used EISCAT Svalbard Radar data, obtained during the International Polar Year 2007 campaign, to study ionospheric upflow events with fluxes exceeding 1013 m−2 s−1. In this study, we have classified the upflow events into low, medium, and high flux upflows, and we report on the incidence and seasonal distribution of these different classes. It is observed that high upflow fluxes are comparatively rare and low flux upflow events are a frequent phenomenon. Analysis shows that occurrence peaks around local noon at 31%, 16%, and 2% for low, medium, and high-flux upflow, respectively, during geomagnetically disturbed periods. In agreement with previous studies on vertical and field-aligned flows, ion upflow is observed to take place over a wide range of geomagnetic conditions, with downflow flux occurrence being lower than upflow occurrence. In contrast to previous observations, however, the upflow occurrence is greater around noon during highly disturbed geomagnetic conditions than for moderate geomagnetic conditions. Analysis of the seasonal distribution reveals that, while high-flux upflow has its peak around local noon in the summer, with its occurrence being driven predominantly by high geomagnetic disturbance, the occurrence of low-flux upflow is broadly distributed across all seasons, geomagnetic activity conditions, and times of day. The medium-flux upflow events, although distributed across all seasons, show an occurrence peak strongly related to high Kp. Furthermore, during highly disturbed conditions, the low-flux and medium-flux upflow events show a minimum occurrence during the winter, whereas minimum occurrence for the high-flux upflow events occurs in autumn.

This paper investigates the auroral evolution during different magnetospheric modes: substorms, steady magnetospheric convection, and sawtooth events. We undertake a superposed epoch analysis using data from the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration Far Ultraviolet spectrographic imager and wideband imaging camera for each of these event types. We find that the auroral oval narrows and shows an equatorward movement prior to substorm onset. At substorm onset, the auroral oval brightens explosively near 23 magnetic local time (MLT). After this the aurorae expand poleward and the brightening stretches duskward and dawnward, with the duskward expansion being faster. Approximately 20 min after substorm onset, the aurorae begin to dim. Steady magnetospheric convection events with preceding substorms initially show the same signatures as substorms, but instead of the recovery after 20 min postonset, the aurorae stay bright for an extended period of time (at least 4 h after onset). Despite continued dayside driving of the system during steady magnetospheric convection events, we see a reconfiguration in the nightside auroral activity, taking place between 120 to 150 min after onset. Sawtooth events show very similar signatures to substorms, except for the auroral emission being much brighter, covering a wider MLT extent, and taking significantly less time to recover. The proton aurorae during substorms take ∼2–4 h to dim, during sawtooth events this process takes less than 1 h, despite enhanced reconnection rates. A similar effect is seen in the electron aurorae, albeit not as extreme.

The structure of Earth’s magnetosphere is poorly understood when the interplanetary magnetic field is northward. Under this condition, uncharacteristically energetic plasma is observed in the magnetotail lobes, which is not expected in the textbook model of the magnetosphere. Using satellite observations, we show that these lobe plasma signatures occur on high-latitude magnetic field lines that have been closed by the fundamental plasma process of magnetic reconnection. Previously, it has been suggested that closed flux can become trapped in the lobe and that this plasma-trapping process could explain another poorly understood phenomenon: the presence of auroras at extremely high latitudes, called transpolar arcs. Observations of the aurora at the same time as the lobe plasma signatures reveal the presence of a transpolar arc. The excellent correspondence between the transpolar arc and the trapped closed flux at high altitudes provides very strong evidence of the trapping mechanism as the cause of transpolar arcs.

Understanding the capability of a simulation to reproduce observed features is a requirement for its use in operational space weather forecasting. We compare statistically ionospheric seasonal variations in the Grand Unified Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Simulation (GUMICS-4) global magnetohydrodynamic model with measurements. The GUMICS-4 data consist of a set of runs that was fed with real solar wind measurements and cover the period of 1 year. Ionospheric convection measurements are from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radars, and electric currents are derived from the magnetic field measured by the CHAMP satellite. Auroral electrojet indices are used to examine the disturbance magnetic field on ground. The signatures of electrodynamic coupling between the magnetosphere and ionosphere extend to lower latitudes in GUMICS-4 than in observations, and key features of the auroral ovals—the Region 2 field-aligned currents, electrojets, Harang discontinuity, and ring of enhanced conductivity—are not properly reproduced. The ground magnetic field is even at best about 5 times weaker than measurements, which can be a problem for forecasting geomagnetically induced currents. According to the measurements, the ionospheric electrostatic potential does not change significantly from winter to summer but field-aligned currents enhance, whereas in GUMICS-4, the electrostatic potential weakens from winter to summer but field-aligned currents do not change. This could be a consequence of the missing Region 2 currents: the Region 1 current has to close with itself across the polar cap, which makes it sensitive to solar UV conductivity. Precipitation energy and conductance peak amplitudes in GUMICS-4 agree with observations.

The European Space Agency’s four-spacecraft Cluster mission has been observing the Earth’s dynamical magnetotail region since early 2001. The magnetotail, and in particular the hot trapped plasma sheet, is a critical region in the coupled Sun-Earth system. Changes in the solar wind have direct influence on the properties and dynamical processes occurring in this region, which in turn directly influence operational near-Earth space, the upper atmosphere, and even induce large-scale currents in the ground. As part of the European Cluster Assimilation Technology (ECLAT) project, a magnetotail plasma region dataset has been produced to facilitate magnetospheric research and further our understanding of the important processes linking the solar wind-magnetospheric-ionospheric system. The dataset consists of a comprehensive list of plasma regions encountered in the nightside magnetosphere of the Earth by each of the four Cluster spacecraft in the years 2001–2009. The regions identified are those where major energy transport/conversion processes take place and are important regions for system level science. Characteristic averaged parameters describing the behavior of each region are provided for further understanding. The dataset facilitates the use of the large repository of Cluster data by the wider scientific community.

Spacecraft observations have established that all known planets with an internal magnetic field, as part of their interaction with the solar wind, possess well-developed magnetic tails, stretching vast distances on the nightside of the planets. In this review paper we focus on the magnetotails of Mercury, Earth, Jupiter and Saturn, four planets which possess well-developed tails and which have been visited by several spacecraft over the years. The fundamental physical processes of reconnection, convection, and charged particle acceleration are common to the magnetic tails of Mercury, Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. The great differences in solar wind conditions, planetary rotation rates, internal plasma sources, ionospheric properties, and physical dimensions from Mercury’s small magnetosphere to the giant magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn provide an outstanding opportunity to extend our understanding of the influence of such factors on basic processes. In this review article, we study the four planetary environments of Mercury, Earth, Jupiter and Saturn, comparing their common features and contrasting their unique dynamics.

[1] We present a fine-scale electrodynamic structure behind the auroral beads observed immediately before substorm onset, as inferred from high spatial and temporal resolution measurements of substorm with an all-sky TV camera (ATV) and a coherent high frequency radar of Super Dual Auroral Radar Network in Iceland. On the night of 24 September 2006, the ATV observed eastward propagating auroral beads in the initial brightening arc of a substorm just prior to the poleward expansion. During the sequential passage of the beads across the radar beams, the radar detected large velocity flow shears whose magnitude was in excess of 0.27 s−1. The observations suggest that flow shears were located very close to the center of the beads; thus, they corresponded to electric fields converging toward the beads, which is consistent with the existence of upward field-aligned currents (FACs) flowing out of the beads. The temporal and spatial resolutions of the current radar measurement were still insufficient for fully resolving the detailed electrodynamic structure behind the fast moving auroral beads. At least, however, we can suggest the existence of highly localized filamentary FAC structures behind the beads, which would be an important consequence of possible plasma instabilities operating in the M-I coupling region or near the equatorial plane of the magnetosphere.

We present a survey of medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) observed by a Super Dual Auroral Radar Network HF radar located in the Falkland Islands between May 2010 and April 2011. The radar has a field of view that overlooks the Antarctic Peninsula, a known hot spot of gravity wave activity. We present observations of radar ground-backscatter data, in which the signatures of MSTIDs are manifested as structured enhancements in echo power. Observed periods were in the range 30–80 min, corresponding to frequencies of 0.2–0.6 mHz. Wavelengths were generally in the range 200–800 km and phase speeds in the range 100–300 m s−1. These values are within the ranges typically associated with medium-scale gravity waves. We find a primary population of northward (equatorward) propagating MSTIDs, which demonstrate an association with enhanced solar wind-magnetosphere coupling and a smaller, westward propagating population, that could be associated with atmospheric gravity waves excited by winds over the Andean and Antarctic Peninsula mountains or by the high winds of the Antarctic Polar Vortex.

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 1 AU and Mars Express and Mars Odyssey at 1.644 AU 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 10 days. 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 3 orbits ( 20 h). 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.

The magnetic field measured on the ground or in space is the addition of several sources: from flows within the Earth’s core to electric currents in distant regions of the magnetosphere. Properly separating and characterizing these sources requires appropriate observations, both ground-based and space-based. In the present paper, we review the existing observational infrastructure, from magnetic observatories and magnetometer arrays on the ground to satellites in low-Earth (Swarm) and highly elliptical (Cluster) orbits. We also review the capability of SuperDARN to provide polar ionospheric convection patterns supporting magnetic observations. The past two decades have been marked by exciting new developments in all observation types. We review these developments, focusing on how they complement each other and how they have led or could lead in the near future to improved separation and modeling of the geomagnetic sources.

[1] We present a statistical study relating the latitude of the auroral oval measured by the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) SI-12 proton auroral camera to that of the Heppner-Maynard Boundary (HMB) determined from Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) data during the period 2000–2002. The HMB represents the latitudinal extent of the ionospheric convection pattern. The oval latitude from the proton auroral images is determined using the method of Milan et al. (2009a), which fits a circle centered on a point 2° duskward and 5° antisunward of the magnetic pole. The auroral latitude at midnight is determined for those images where the concurrent SuperDARN northern hemisphere maps contain more than 200 data points such that the HMB is well-defined. The statistical study comprises over 198,000 two-minute intervals, and we find that the HMB is located on average 2.2° equatorward of the proton auroral latitude. A superposed epoch analysis of over 2500 substorms suggests that the separation between the HMB and the oval latitude increases slightly during periods of high geomagnetic activity. We suggest that during intervals where there are no auroral images available, the HMB latitude and motion could be used as a proxy for that of the aurora, and therefore provide information about motions of the open/closed field line boundary.