Analysis Methods For Multi Spacecraft Data

This open access book provides a comprehensive toolbox of analysis techniques for ionospheric multi-satellite missions. The immediate need for this volume was motivated by the ongoing ESA Swarm satellite mission, but the tools that are described are general and can be used for any future ionospheric multi-satellite mission with comparable instrumentation. In addition to researching the immediate plasma environment and its coupling to other regions, such a mission aims to study the Earth’s main magnetic field and its anomalies caused by core, mantle, or crustal sources. The parameters for carrying out this kind of work are examined in these chapters. Besides currents, electric fields, and plasma convection, these parameters include ionospheric conductance, Joule heating, neutral gas densities, and neutral winds.

Dynamics of astrophysical systems is often described by plasma physics, yet understanding the nature of plasma turbulence remains as a challenge in physics in both theories and experiments. This book is an up-to-date summary and review of recent results in research on waves and turbulence in near-Earth space plasma turbulence, obtained by Cluster, the multi-spacecraft mission. Spatial and temporal structures of solar wind turbulence as well as its interaction with the bow shock ahead of the Earth are presented using Cluster data. The book presents (1) historical developments, (2) theoretical background of plasma physics, turbulence theories, and the plasma physical picture of the solar system, (3) analysis methods for multi-spacecraft data, (4) results of Cluster data analysis, and (5) impacts on astrophysics and Earth sciences.

This book presents recent advances in the physics of magnetic reconnection, investigated via both in situ spacecraft observations and fully kinetic numerical simulations. Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in plasma physics during which the topological reconfiguration of the magnetic field leads to energy conversion and particle energization. The book focuses on the physics of the electron diffusion region (EDR), a crucial region where the electrons are decoupled from the magnetic field and efficiently accelerated by the electric field. By using recent, high-resolution measurements provided by NASA’s Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission (MMS), the book investigates the structure of the EDR at the Earth’s magnetopause. The presented analysis provides evidence for an inhomogeneous and patchy EDR structure. The structure of the EDR appears to be more complex than the in laminar picture suggested by previous observations and simulations. Then, electrons dynamics in the EDR is studied using a novel, fully kinetic Eulerian Vlasov–Darwin model that has been implemented in the Vlasov–DArwin numerical code (ViDA), explained in detail in the book. Lastly, the book covers the testing of this new code, and investigates the contributions of the different terms in the generalized Ohm’s law within the EDR, highlighting the role of the electron inertia term.

Überblick über den aktuellen Wissensstand und künftige Forschungsrichtungen in der Magnetosphärenphysik In den sechs Jahrzehnten seit der Einführung des Begriffs ?Magnetosphäre? sind über den magnetisierten Raum, der jeden Körper in unserem Sonnensystem umgibt, viele Theorien entstanden und viele Erkenntnisse gewonnen worden. Jede Magnetosphäre ist einzigartig und verhält sich doch entsprechend den universellen physikalischen Vorgängen. Der Band ?Magnetospheres in the Solar System? enthält Beiträge von Experten für Experimentalphysik, theoretische Physik und numerische Modellierung, die einen Überblick über verschiedene Magnetosphären vermitteln, von der winzigen Magnetosphäre des Merkur bis zu den gewaltigen planetarischen Magnetosphären von Jupiter und Saturn. Das Werk bietet insbesondere: * Einen kompakten Überblick über die Geschichte der Magnetosphäre, ihre Grundsätze und Gleichungen * Eine Zusammenfassung der grundlegenden Prozesse in der Magnetospährenphysik * Instrumente und Techniken zur Untersuchung von Prozessen in der Magnetosphäre * Eine besondere Schwerpunktsetzung auf die Magnetosphäre der Erde und ihre Dynamik * Eine Darstellung der planetaren Magnetfelder und Magnetosphären im gesamten Sonnensystem * Eine Definition der künftigen Forschungsrichtungen in der Magnetosphärenphysik Die Amerikanische Geophysikalische Vereinigung fördert die wissenschaftliche Erforschung der Erde und des Weltraums zum Wohle der Menschheit. In ihren Publikationen werden wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse veröffentlicht, die Forschern, Studenten und Fachkräften zur Verfügung stehen.