Comparison of Birkeland current observations during two magnetic cloud events with MHD simulations

Low altitude field-aligned current densities ob- tained from global magnetospheric simulations are compared with two-dimensional distributions of Birkeland currents at the topside ionosphere derived from magnetic field observa- tions by the constellation of Iridium satellites. We present the analysis of two magnetic cloud events, 17–19 August 2003 and 19–21 March 2001, where the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) rotates slowly (∼10◦/h) to avoid time-aliasing in the magnetic perturbations used to calculate the Birkeland currents. In the August 2003 event the IMF rotates from southward to northward while maintaining a negative IMF By during much of the interval. During the March 2001 event the IMF direction varies from dawnward to southward to duskward. We find that the distributions of the Birkeland current densities in the simulations agree qualitatively with the observations for northward IMF. For southward IMF, the dayside Region-1 currents are reproduced in the simu- ◦ the ionospheric grids in the simulations and the observations is shown to have only secondary effect on the magnitudes of the Birkeland currents. The electric potentials in the simu- lation for southward IMF periods are twice as large as those obtained from measurements of the plasma drift velocities by DMSP, implying that the reconnection rates in the simulation are too large. Keywords. Ionosphere (Electric fields and currents; Ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions; Modeling and forecasting) 1 Introduction Global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models are the most comprehensive numerical tool for studying the coupling of energy and momentum of the solar wind into the Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere. A particular advantage of global MHD simulations is the ability to provide continu- ous temporal and spatial coverage of key physical parame- ters over the entire simulation volume. For this reason, MHD simulations have become one of the principal tools for study- ing space weather events such as the interaction of the Earth’s magnetosphere with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) (Ridley et al., 2002) as well as magnetic storms (Slinker et al., 1998; Goodrich et al., 1998) and substorms (Lyon et al., 1998; Lopez et al., 1998; Wiltberger et al., 2000). Since the simula- tion results are frequently used to interpret physical processes in the magnetosphere–ionosphere system, assessing their ac- curacy by comparison with observations is an important task. A number of such studies have been carried out in the past us- ing space-based (Frank et al., 1995; Raeder et al., 1997) and ground-based observations (Ridley et al., 2001), or a com- bination thereof (Fedder et al., 1998; Slinker et al., 1999). However, interpreting the discrepancies between model and observations is not straightforward because the observational lation, but appear on average 5 served location, while the nightside Region-1 currents and the Region-2 currents are largely under-represented. Com- parison of the observed and simulated Birkeland current dis- tributions, which are intimately related to the plasma drifts at the ionosphere, shows that the ionospheric convection pat- tern in the MHD model and its dependence on the IMF ori- entation is essentially correct. The Birkeland total currents in the simulations are about a factor of 2 larger than observed during southward IMF. For Bz\u3e0 the disparity in the total current is reduced and the simulations for purely northward IMF agree with the observations to within 10%. The dispar- ities in the magnitudes of the Birkeland currents between the observations and the simulation results are a combined effect of the simulation overestimating the ionospheric electric field and of the Iridium fits underestimating the magnetic pertur- bations

Active current sheets and hot flow anomalies in Mercury's bow shock

Hot flow anomalies (HFAs) represent a subset of solar wind discontinuities interacting with collisionless bow shocks. They are typically formed when the normal component of motional (convective) electric field points toward the embedded current sheet on at least one of its sides. The core region of an HFA contains hot and highly deflected ion flows and rather low and turbulent magnetic field. In this paper, we report first observations of HFA-like events at Mercury identified over a course of two planetary years. Using data from the orbital phase of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, we identify a representative ensemble of active current sheets magnetically connected to Mercury's bow shock. We show that some of these events exhibit unambiguous magnetic and particle signatures of HFAs similar to those observed earlier at other planets, and present their key physical characteristics. Our analysis suggests that Mercury's bow shock does not only mediate the flow of supersonic solar wind plasma but also provides conditions for local particle acceleration and heating as predicted by previous numerical simulations. Together with earlier observations of HFA activity at Earth, Venus and Saturn, our results confirm that hot flow anomalies are a common property of planetary bow shocks, and show that the characteristic size of these events is of the order of one planetary radius.Comment: 39 pages, 15 figures, 2 table

Nanostructured materials: A novel approach to enhanced performance. Final report

Nanostuctured materials are an emerging class of materials that can exhibit physical and mechanical characteristics often exceeding those exhibited by conventional course grained materials. A number of different techniques can be employed to produce these materials. In this program, the synthesis methods were (a) mechanical alloying , (b) physical vapor deposition, and (c) plasma processing. The physical vapor deposition and plasma processing were discontinued after initial testing with subsequent efforts focused on mechanical alloying. The major emphasis of the program was on the synthesis, consolidation, and characterization of nanostructured Al-Fe, Ti-Al, Ti-Al-Nb, and Fe-Al by alloying intermetallics with a view to increase their ductilities. The major findings of this project are reported

MESSENGER Magnetic Field Observations of Upstream Ultra-Low Frequency Waves at Mercury

The region upstream from a planetary bow shock is a natural plasma laboratory containing a variety of wave particle phenomena. The study of foreshocks other than the Earth's is important for extending our understanding of collisionless shocks and foreshock physics since the bow shock strength varies with heliocentric distance from the Sun, and the sizes of the bow shocks are different at different planets. The Mercury's bow shock is unique in our solar system as it is produced by low Mach number solar wind blowing over a small magnetized body with a predominately radial interplanetary magnetic field. Previous observations of Mercury upstream ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves came exclusively from two Mercury flybys of Mariner 10. The MESSENGER orbiter data enable us to study of upstream waves in the Mercury's foreshock in depth. This paper reports an overview of upstream ULF waves in the Mercury's foreshock using high-time resolution magnetic field data, 20 samples per second, from the MESSENGER spacecraft. The most common foreshock waves have frequencies near 2 Hz, with properties similar to the I-Hz waves in the Earth's foreshock. They are present in both the flyby data and in every orbit of the orbital data we have surveyed. The most common wave phenomenon in the Earth's foreshock is the large-amplitude 30-s waves, but similar waves at Mercury have frequencies at near 0.1 Hz and occur only sporadically with short durations (a few wave cycles). Superposed on the "30-s" waves, there are spectral peaks at near 0.6 Hz, not reported previously in Mariner 10 data. We will discuss wave properties and their occurrence characteristics in this paper

K2-137 b: an Earth-sized planet in a 4.3-hour orbit around an M-dwarf

We report the discovery from K2 of a transiting terrestrial planet in an ultra-short-period orbit around an M3-dwarf. K2-137 b completes an orbit in only 4.3 hours, the second-shortest orbital period of any known planet, just 4 minutes longer than that of KOI 1843.03, which also orbits an M-dwarf. Using a combination of archival images, AO imaging, RV measurements, and light curve modelling, we show that no plausible eclipsing binary scenario can explain the K2 light curve, and thus confirm the planetary nature of the system. The planet, whose radius we determine to be 0.89 +/- 0.09 Earth radii, and which must have a iron mass fraction greater than 0.45, orbits a star of mass 0.463 +/- 0.052 Msol and radius 0.442 +/- 0.044 Rsol.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA