Statistical study of the alteration of the magnetic structure of magnetic clouds in the Earth’s magnetosheath

The magnetosheath plays a central role in the solar wind-magnetospheric coupling. Yet the effects of its crossing on solar wind structures such as magnetic clouds (MCs) are generally overlooked when assessing their geoeffectivity. Using 82 MCs observed simultaneously in the solar wind and the magnetosheath, we carry out the first statistical study of the alteration of their magnetic structure in the magnetosheath. For each event, the bow shock properties are obtained from a magnetosheath model. The comparison between the model results and observations shows that in 80% of cases, the MHD-based model captures well the magnetosheath transition; the other events are discussed separately. We find that just downstream of the bow shock the variation of the magnetic field direction shows a very good anticorrelation (r = −0.91) with the angle between the upstream magnetic field and the shock normal. We then focus on the magnetic field north-south component Bz because of its importance for geoeffectivity. Although the sign of Bz is generally preserved in the magnetosheath, we also find evidence of long-lasting intervals of opposite Bz signs in the solar wind and the magnetosheath during some events, with a |Bz| reversal > 10 nT at the magnetopause. We find that these reversals are due to the draping of the field lines and are associated with predominant upstream By. In those cases, the estimated position of the regions of antiparallel fields along the magnetopause is independent of the sign of the upstream Bz . This may have strong implications in terms of reconnection.Peer reviewe

Identifying the source region of plasmaspheric hiss

The presence of the plasmaspheric hiss emission around the Earth has been known for more than 50 years but its origin has remained unknown in terms of source location and mechanism. The hiss, made of whistler mode waves, exists for most of the time in the plasmasphere and is believed to control the radiation belt surrounding the Earth which makes its understanding very important. This paper presents direct observational evidence that the plasmaspheric hiss originates in the equatorial region of the plasmaspheric drainage plumes. It shows that the emissions propagate along the magnetic field lines and away from the equator in the plumes but towards the equator at lower L shells inside the plasmasphere. The observations also suggest that the hiss waves inside the plasmasphere are absorbed as they cross the equator

Observatories of the Solar Corona and Active Regions (OSCAR)

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) are major sources of magnetic storms on Earth and are therefore considered to be the most dangerous space weather events. The Observatories of Solar Corona and Active Regions (OSCAR) mission is designed to identify the 3D structure of coronal loops and to study the trigger mechanisms of CMEs in solar Active Regions (ARs) as well as their evolution and propagation processes in the inner heliosphere. It also aims to provide monitoring and forecasting of geo- effective CMEs and CIRs. OSCAR would contribute to significant advancements in the field of solar physics, improvements of the current CME prediction models, and provide data for reliable space weather forecasting. These objectives are achieved by utilising two spacecraft with identical instrumentation, located at a heliocentric orbital distance of 1 AU from the Sun. The spacecraft will be separated by an angle of 68° to provide optimum stereoscopic view of the solar corona. We study the feasibility of such a mission and propose a preliminary design for OSCAR

Elastin haploinsufficiency induces alternative aging processes in the aorta

Elastin, the main component of elastic fibers, is synthesized only in early life and provides the blood vessels with their elastic properties. With aging, elastin is progressively degraded, leading to arterial enlargement, stiffening, and dysfunction. Also, elastin is a key regulator of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration during development since heterozygous mutations in its gene (Eln) are responsible for a severe obstructive vascular disease, supravalvular aortic stenosis, isolated or associated to Williams syndrome. Here, we have studied whether early elastin synthesis could also influence the aging processes, by comparing the structure and function of ascending aorta from 6- and 24-month-old Eln+/- and Eln+/+ mice. Eln+/- animals have high blood pressure and arteries with smaller diameters and more rigid walls containing additional although thinner elastic lamellas. Nevertheless, longevity of these animals is unaffected. In young adult Eln+/- mice, some features resemble vascular aging of wild-type animals: cardiac hypertrophy, loss of elasticity of the arterial wall through enhanced fragmentation of the elastic fibers, and extracellular matrix accumulation in the aortic wall, in particular in the intima. In Eln+/- animals, we also observed an age-dependent alteration of endothelial vasorelaxant function. On the contrary, Eln+/- mice were protected from several classical consequences of aging visible in aged Eln+/+ mice, such as arterial wall thickening and alteration of alpha(1)-adrenoceptor-mediated vasoconstriction. Our results suggest that early elastin expression and organization modify arterial aging through their impact on both vascular cell physiology and structure and mechanics of blood vessels

SMILE: a joint ESA/CAS mission to investigate the interaction between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere

The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) is a collaborative science mission between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). SMILE is a novel self-standing mission to observe the coupling of the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere via X-Ray imaging of the solar wind -- magnetosphere interaction zones, UV imaging of global auroral distributions and simultaneous in-situ solar wind, magnetosheath plasma and magnetic field measurements. The SMILE mission proposal was submitted by a consortium of European, Chinese and Canadian scientists following a joint call for mission by ESA and CAS. It was formally selected by ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC) as an element of the ESA Science Program in November 2015, with the goal of a launch at the end of 2021. In order to achieve its scientific objectives, the SMILE payload will comprise four instruments: the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), which will spectrally map the Earth's magnetopause, magnetosheath and magnetospheric cusps; the UltraViolet Imager (UVI), dedicated to imaging the auroral regions; the Light Ion Analyser (LIA) and the MAGnetometer (MAG), which will establish the solar wind properties simultaneously with the imaging instruments. We report on the status of the mission and payload developments and the findings of a design study carried out in parallel at the concurrent design facilities (CDF) of ESA and CAS in October/November 2015

Erratum: A space weather mission concept: Observatories of the solar corona and active regions (oscar) (Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate (2015) 5 (A4) DOI: 10.1051/swsc/2015003)

In this erratum we acknowledge EASCO as one of the inspirational mission concepts that helped the development of our original mission concept OSCAR