Interplanetary and Interstellar Dust Observed by the Wind/WAVES Electric Field Instrument

Observations of hypervelocity dust particles impacting the Wind spacecraft are reported here for the first time using data from the WindWAVES electric field instrument. A unique combination of rotating spacecraft, amplitude-triggered high-cadence waveform collection, and electric field antenna configuration allow the first direct determination of dust impact direction by any spacecraft using electric field data. Dust flux and impact direction data indicate that the observed dust is approximately micron-sized with both interplanetary and interstellar populations. Nanometer radius dust is not detected by Wind during times when nanometer dust is observed on the STEREO spacecraft and both spacecraft are in close proximity. Determined impact directions suggest that interplanetary dust detected by electric field instruments at 1 AU is dominated by particles on bound trajectories crossing Earths orbit, rather than dust with hyperbolic orbits

The Properties of Large Amplitude Whistler Mode Waves in the Magnetosphere: Propagation and Relationship with Geomagnetic Activity

Wepresent resultsof a studyof the characteristicsof very large amplitude whistler mode waves inside the terrestrial magnetosphere at radial distances of less than 15 RE using waveform capture data from the Wind spacecraft. We observed 247 whistler mode waves with at least one electric field component (105/247 had !80 mV/m peak!to!peak amplitudes) and 66 whistler mode waves with at least one search coil magnetic field component (38/66 had !0.8 nT peak!to!peak amplitudes). Wave vectors determined from events with three magnetic field components indicate that 30/46 propagate within 20 of the ambient magnetic field, though some are more oblique (up to "50 ). No relationship was observed between wave normal angle and GSM latitude. 162/247 of the large amplitude whistler mode waves were observed during magnetically active periods (AE > 200 nT). 217 out of 247 total whistler mode waves examined were observed inside the radiation belts. We present a waveform capture with the largest whistler wave magnetic field amplitude (^8 nT peak!to!peak) ever reported in the radiation belts. The estimated Poynting flux magnitude associated with this wave is ^300 mW/m2, roughly four orders of magnitude above estimates from previous satellite measurements. Such large Poynting flux values are consistent with rapid energization of electrons

Flat Proton Spectra in Large Solar Energetic Particle Events

We present solar energetic particle events observed at 1 AU from the Sun for which the proton energy spectra at energies between ~50 keV to ~1 MeV flatten during a period of at least ~12 hours prior to the passage of the associated interplanetary shock. The flattening of the proton energy spectra occurs when the source of the particles (presumably the traveling interplanetary shock) is still downwind from the spacecraft and particle intensities are still continuously increasing. The arrival of the shock at the spacecraft is then characterized by a steepening of the spectra, where low-energy proton intensities show a more pronounced enhancement than the high-energy proton intensities. We discuss the mechanisms that may result in this flattening of the spectra in terms of current models presented in the literature