藤本 正樹

The ion-electron decoupling region where electron outflow speed differs from ion outflow speed is formed in the magnetic reconnection site. Ion and electron dynamics in the ion-electron decoupling region is derived with magnetic field and plasma observations by the spacecraft Geotail in near-Earth magnetotail magnetic reconnection. The ion-electron decoupling region has a spatial extent of approximately 11 i (ion inertial length) along the GSM x direction, and the dawn-dusk current sheet with main current carriers of electrons exists over this region. An intense electron current layer with a spatial extent of 0.5-1 i occupies in its center around the X line. High-speed electron outflow jets are formed just outside the central intense electron current layer. They are decelerated and become non-jet outflows with speed slightly higher than ion outflow speed. Electrons have flattop distribution functions indicating heating and acceleration in both the outflow jets and the non-jet outflows; however, heating and acceleration are weak in the central intense current layer. Inflowing ions enter the central intense electron current layer, and these ions are accelerated up to 10 keV inside the electron outflow jet regions. Ion acceleration beyond 10 keV and thermalization operate mostly in the non-jet electron outflow regions. Electrons show thermal distributions without any heating/acceleration signatures immediately beyond the edge of the ion-electron decoupling region, while higher-energy ions pervade even beyond the edge and hot MHD plasma flows are produced.

Saturn's auroral activities have been suggested to be controlled by the seasonal variations of the polar ionospheric conductivities and atmospheric conditions associated with the solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux. However, they have not yet been explained self-consistently by only the seasonal solar EUV effects. This study investigates the long-term variations of Saturnian Kilometric Radiation (SKR) as a proxy of the auroral activities, which were observed by Cassini's Radio and Plasma Wave Science experiment mostly during the southern summer (DOY (day of year) 001 2004 to DOY 193 2010). We deduced the height distribution of the SKR source region in the Northern (winter) and Southern (summer) Hemispheres from the remote sensing of SKR spectra. The peak spectral density of the southern (summer) SKR was found to be up to 100 times greater than that of the northern (winter) SKR, and the altitude of the peak flux was similar (∼ 0.8 Rs) in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The spectral densities in both hemispheres became comparable with each other around equinox in August 2009. These results suggest a stronger SKR source region during the summer than the winter related to the seasonal EUV effect, which is opposite to the trend observed in the Earth's kilometric radiation. A long-term correlation analysis was performed for the SKR, solar EUV flux, and solar wind parameters extrapolated from Earth's orbit by an magnetohydrodynamical simulation focusing on variations on timescales longer than several weeks. We confirmed clear positive correlations between the solar wind dynamic pressure and peak flux density in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres during the declining phase of the solar cycle. We conclude that the solar wind variations on the timescale of the solar cycle control the SKR source region. In addition, it was also confirmed that the south-to-north ratios of SKR power flux and source altitudes are positively correlated with the solar EUV flux. This result strongly supports a seasonal EUV effect on the SKR source region. The variations of SKR activity over both seasonal and solar cycles are discussed in comparison to the terrestrial case. Key Points Long-term variations in Saturn's auroral radio source region were investigated Southern radio flux is100 times greater than the north during southern summer Long-term radio variations were also found to be controlled by the solar wind ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Our recent observations around the Moon revealed that so-called type-II (T2) entry of the solar wind protons into the near-Moon wake occurs when the IMF is dominated by the non-radial components (i.e. By and/or B-z). Under this condition a part of the solar wind protons scattered/reflected at the lunar dayside surface subsequently enters the central region of the near-Moon wake after a large-scale cycloid motion, which accelerates electrons along the filed line into the wake. The situation handled in the previous studies is that the relevant magnetic field line is detached from the lunar surface, leaving a possibility of the 12 entry under magnetic connection left open. Here we report that the protons can access the central wake region that is magnetically connected to the lunar nightside surface, which we categorize into the T2 entry with magnetic connection to the lunar surface (T2MC). Furthermore we show that the energy of the electron beams induced by the proton entry into the wake depends on the magnetic connectivity. Strong electron acceleration (up to several hundred eV to 1 key) along the magnetic field associated with the 12 entry is prominent when the field line has its both ends in the solar wind, that is, when the magnetic field is detached from the lunar surface (i.e. the previously reported 12 entry that we rename to T2MD). On the other hand, no significant electron acceleration is found in the T2MC cases, although an enhancement of the electron flux associated with the T2 proton entry is evident. We also report that the T2 entry process takes place even under radial (B-X-dominated) IMF condition. Our results indicate that, while the 12 entry of solar wind protons into the wake itself does not require a special IMF condition but is a rather general phenomenon, the characteristic energy of associated electrons does show a strong dependence on the magnetic connectivity to the lunar surface. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

For the future Japanese exploration mission of the Jupiter's magnetosphere (JMO: Jupiter Magnetospheric Orbiter), a unique instrument named JUXTA (Jupiter X-ray Telescope Array) is being developed. It aims at the first in-situ measurement of X-ray emission associated with Jupiter and its neighborhood. Recent observations with Earth-orbiting satellites have revealed various X-ray emission from the Jupiter system. X-ray sources include Jupiter's aurorae, disk emission, inner radiation belts, the Galilean satellites and the Io plasma torus. X-ray imaging spectroscopy can be a new probe to reveal rotationally driven activities, particle acceleration and Jupiter satellite binary system. JUXTA is composed of an ultra-light weight X-ray telescope based on micromachining technology and a radiation-hard semiconductor pixel detector. It covers 0.3-2 keV with the energy resolution of <100 eV at 0.6 keV. Because of proximity to Jupiter (similar to 30 Jovian radii at periapsis), the image resolution of <5 arcmin and the on-axis effective area of >3 cm(2) at 0.6 keV allow extremely high photon statistics and high resolution observations. (C) 2012 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three-dimensional structure of magnetic reconnection in the near-Earth magnetotail is explored using Geotail observations from 1996 to 2012. Magnetic reconnection is identified as a simultaneous plasma flow and magnetic field reversal near the neutral sheet with intense out-of-plane electron currents. There are 30 events in the region of -32&lt;X&lt;-18 RE (in the aberrated GSM coordinates) in the magnetotail. The dawn-dusk width (in the y direction) of the magnetic reconnection site is probably less than 8 RE with its center in the premidnight region. The magnetic field structure in the x-z plane does not change significantly in the full width of the magnetic reconnection site. The ion inflow-outflow structure shows a marked edge effect in the duskside. As inflow, ions move toward the equatorial plane with an additional dawnward motion. This dawnward motion is more evident in the duskside. As outflows, ions escape tailward and earthward with a duskward motion, as expected from the Speiser motion, except at the duskside edge. At the duskside edge, almost all ions move dawnward, and only part of high-energy ions can escape earthward and tailward. There is a possibility that the dawnward flow consists of adjacent plasma sheet plasmas transported by the pressure gradient force at the duskside edge. The present results would be the first step to construct a three-dimensional structure of magnetic reconnection in various cosmic plasmas.

We infer the evolution of magnetopause reconnection from simultaneous in situ magnetopause crossings and auroral observations by Cassini on 19 July 2008. Depending on the magnetosheath field, it proceeds from (i) the high-latitude lobe, producing a cusp spot in the aurora, to (ii) lower latitude but north of Cassini, evidenced by an enhancement of the pre-noon auroral arc and escape of magnetospheric electrons during a long boundary layer traversal, to (iii) bursts of reconnection south of Cassini, resulting in bifurcations of the near-noon auroral oval, escape of magnetospheric electrons, and a short boundary layer encounter. The conditions under which the auroral bifurcations associated with this bursty reconnection were observed were examined for this and three other examples. The magnetosphere was strongly compressed with a high magnetosheath field strength in every case. We conclude that reconnection can proceed at different locations on the magnetopause, depending on the local magnetic shear and plasma beta conditions, and bursty reconnection occurs when the magnetosphere is strongly compressed and can result in significant solar wind-driven flux transport in Saturn's outer magnetosphere.

Magnetic reconnection plays important roles in mass transport and energy conversion in planetary magnetospheres. It is considered that transient reconnection causes localized auroral arcs or spots in the Jovian magnetosphere, by analogy to the case in the Earth's magnetosphere. However, the local structures of transient reconnection events (i.e., magnetospheric plasma parameters) and their spatial distribution have not been extensively investigated for the Jovian magnetosphere. Here we examine plasma velocity and density during strong north-south magnetic field events in the Jovian nightside magnetosphere, which may be associated with tail reconnection. We find prominent reconnection jet fronts predominantly on the dawnside of the nightside magnetosphere, which would be a signature unique to rotation-dominant planetary magnetospheres. The observed plasma structures are consistent with significant field-aligned currents which would generate localized aurora. © 2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

We study an interaction between the solar wind and crustal magnetic fields on the lunar surface using SELENE (Kaguya) data. It has been known that magnetic enhancements are at times detected near the limb external to the lunar wake, which is thus called lunar external magnetic enhancement (LEME), as a result of direct interaction between the solar wind and lunar crustal fields. Although previous observational studies showed that LEMEs in the high solar zenith angle region favor stronger interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and higher solar wind density, the relation between the IMF and the crustal field orientation has not been taken into account. We show evidence that the relation between the IMF and crustal field orientation is also one of the key factors that control the extent of LEME, focusing on one-day observations at 100 km altitude that include data above strong crustal fields around South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin. Strong LEMEs are detected at 100 km altitude around SPA basin under the stronger and northward IMF condition, while they weaken under southward IMF. All LEME's peaks are located in the region where unperturbed crustal fields at 300 km altitude are directed northward while they are less related to unperturbed crustal fields at 100 km or lower, which suggests that lunar crustal fields are compressed by the solar wind dynamic pressure, and its large scale component parallel to the IMF is essential to the formation of the LEME. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

At the Earth's magnetopause that separates the hot-tenuous magnetospheric plasma from the cold dense solar wind plasma, often seen is a boundary layer where plasmas of both origins coexist. Plasma diffusions of various forms have been considered as the cause of this plasma mixing. Here, we investigate the plasma transport induced by wave-particle interaction in kinetic Alfven wave (KAW) turbulence, which is one of the candidate processes. We clarify that the physical origin of the KAW-induced cross-field diffusion is the drift motions of those particles that are in Cerenkov resonance with the wave: E x B-like drift that emerges in the presence of non-zero parallel electric field component and grad-B drift due to compressional magnetic fluctuations. We find that KAW turbulence, which has a spectral breakpoint at which an MHD inertial range transits to a dissipation range, causes selective transport for particles whose parallel velocities are specified by the local Alfven velocity and the parallel phase velocity at the spectral breakpoint. This finding leads us to propose a new data analysis method for identifying whether or not a mixed plasma in the boundary layer is a consequence of KAW-induced transport across the magnetopause. The method refers to the velocity space distribution function data obtained by a spacecraft that performs in situ observations and, in principle, is applicable to currently available dataset such as that provided by the NASA's THEMIS mission. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4759167]

Here we investigate the feasibility of characterizing the jovian auroral electron energy and flux via H-3(+) infrared (IR) emission line analysis. Ground based telescopes can monitor jovian infrared auroral activities continuously for an extended time interval compared to the more restricted temporal coverage of ultraviolet (UV) observations. Since the departure from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) varies with vibrational levels and altitude, measurements of the relative emission line intensities reveal the altitude of emission and hence the electron energy. The combination of three H-3(+) line-intensity ratios is required to determine the electron energy and the background temperature. The feasibility issue is evaluated by studying how the observational error propagates into the error of the estimated electron energy. We have found several best sets of H-3(+) lines from which the intensity-ratios can be utilized for the present purpose. Using these lines in the observed 2- and 4- micron wavelength ranges, we can estimate the electron energy and the background temperature within errors of a factor of similar to 3.5% and 3%, respectively, if the observation error is 1%. Since saturnian H-3(+) emissions vary far more substantially according to temperature variations, the method described here is not applicable to observations of Saturn. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

We present Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer observations of infrared auroral emissions from the noon sector of Saturn's ionosphere revealing multiple intense auroral arcs separated by dark regions poleward of the main oval. The arcs are interpreted as the ionospheric signatures of bursts of reconnection occurring at the dayside magnetopause. The auroral arcs were associated with upward field-aligned currents, the magnetic signatures of which were detected by Cassini at high planetary latitudes. Magnetic field and particle observations in the adjacent downward current regions showed upward bursts of 100-360 keV light ions in addition to energetic (hundreds of keV) electrons, which may have been scattered from upward accelerated beams carrying the downward currents. Broadband, upward propagating whistler waves were detected simultaneously with the ion beams. The acceleration of the light ions from low altitudes is attributed to wave-particle interactions in the downward current regions. Energetic (600 keV) oxygen ions were also detected, suggesting the presence of ambient oxygen at altitudes within the acceleration region. These simultaneous in situ and remote observations reveal the highly energetic magnetospheric dynamics driving some of Saturn's unusual auroral features. This is the first in situ identification of transient reconnection events at regions magnetically conjugate to Saturn's magnetopause.

At similar to 25 km altitude over magnetic anomalies on the Moon, the deceleration of the solar wind ions, acceleration of the solar wind electrons parallel to the magnetic field, and heating of the ions reflected by magnetic anomalies were simultaneously observed by MAP-PACE on Kaguya. Deceleration of the solar wind ions was observed for two major solar wind ion compositions: protons and alpha particles. Deceleration of the solar wind had the same Delta E/q (Delta E: deceleration energy, q: charge) for both protons and alpha particles. In addition, the acceleration energy of the electrons was almost the same as the deceleration energy of the ions. This indicates the existence of an anti-moonward electric field over the magnetic anomaly above the altitude of Kaguya. The reflected ions were observed in a much larger area than the area where magnetic field enhancement was observed. These reflected ions had a higher temperature and lower bulk velocity than the incident solar wind ions. This suggests the existence of a non-adiabatic dissipative interaction between solar wind ions and lunar magnetic anomalies below Kaguya.

The intensity of Saturn's infrared H-3(+) aurora is investigated using Cassini VIMS images acquired during October 2006-February 2009. Polar and main oval auroral regions were defined in both hemispheres, which extend between 0-10 degrees and 10-25 degrees co-latitude, respectively. Average intensities were computed for these regions and compared. While the northern and southern main oval regions covered a similar range of intensities, the southern main oval was on average more intense by a factor of similar to 1.3. The emission from the southern polar region was usually less intense than the main oval emissions, while this was only the case for approximately half of the northern hemisphere images. The northern hemisphere polar region displayed intensities more than twice as high as those in the south and the difference between the two hemispheres was most pronounced on the dayside. In general, more intense polar emissions were accompanied by more intense main oval emissions. Possible explanations for the hemispheric and latitudinal differences are discussed in terms of particle energies and fluxes, ionospheric conductivity, temperature and magnetic field strength. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Planetary aurora display the dynamic behavior of the plasma gas surrounding a planet. The outer planetary aurora are most often observed in the ultraviolet (UV) and the infrared (IR) wavelengths. How the emissions in these different wavelengths are connected with the background physical conditions are not yet well understood. Here we investigate the sensitivity of UV and IR emissions to the incident precipitating auroral electrons and the background atmospheric temperature, and compare the results obtained for Jupiter and Saturn. We develop a model which estimates UV and IR emission rates accounting for UV absorption by hydrocarbons, ion chemistry, and H-3(+) non-LTE effects. Parameterization equations are applied to estimate the ionization and excitation profiles in the H-2 atmosphere caused by auroral electron precipitation. The dependences of UV and IR emissions on electron flux are found to be similar at Jupiter and Saturn. However, the dependences of the emissions on electron energy are different at the two planets, especially for low energy (< 10 key) electrons; the UV and IR emissions both decrease with decreasing electron energy, but this effect in the IR is less at Saturn than at Jupiter. The temperature sensitivity of the IR emission is also greater at Saturn than at Jupiter. These dependences are interpreted as results of non-LTE effects on the atmospheric temperature and density profiles. The different dependences of the UV and IR emissions on temperature and electron energy at Saturn may explain the different appearance of polar emissions observed at UV and IR wavelengths, and the differences from those observed at Jupiter. These results lead to the prediction that the differences between the IR and UV aurora at Saturn may be more significant than those at Jupiter. We consider in particular the occurrence of bright polar infrared emissions at Saturn and quantitatively estimate the conditions for such IR-only emissions to appear. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) is a fundamental fluid dynamical process that develops in a velocity shear layer. It is excited on the tail-flanks of the Earth's magnetosphere where the flowing magnetosheath plasma and the stagnant magnetospheric plasma sit adjacent to each other. This instability is thought to induce vortical structures and play an important role in plasma transport there. While KHI vortices have been detected, the earlier observations were performed only on one flank at a time and questions related to dawn-dusk asymmetry were not addressed. Here, we report a case where KHI vortices grow more or less simultaneously and symmetrically on both flanks, despite all the factors that may have broken the symmetry. Yet, energy distributions of ions in and around the vortices show a remarkable dawn-dusk asymmetry. Our results thus suggest that although the initiation and development of the KHI depend primarily on the macroscopic properties of the flow, the observed enhancement of ion energy transport around the dawn side vortices may be linked to microphysical processes including wave-particle interactions. Possible coupling between macro- and micro-scales, if it is at work, suggests a role for KHI not only within the Earth's magnetosphere (e.g., magnetopause and geomagnetic tail) but also in other regions where shear flows of magnetized plasma play important roles. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Large amplitude, monochromatic ultra low frequency (ULF) waves were detected by MAP/LMAG magnetometer onboard Kaguya during the period from 1 January 2008 to 30 November 2008 on its orbit 100 km above the lunar surface. The dominant frequency was 8.3 × 10-3-1.0 × 10 -2 Hz, corresponding to the periods of 120 s-100 s. The amplitude was as large as 3 nT. They were observed in 10% of the time when the moon was in the solar wind far upstream of the Earth&#039;s bow shock. They were detected only by Kaguya on the orbit around the moon, but not by ACE in the upstream solar wind. The occurrence rate was high above the terminator and on the dayside surface. The direction of the propagation was not exactly parallel to the interplanetary magnetic field, but showed a preference to the direction of the magnetic field and the direction perpendicular to the surface of the moon below the spacecraft. The sense of rotation of the magnetic field was left-handed with respect to the magnetic field in 53% of the events, while 47% showed right-handed polarization. The possible generation mechanism is the cyclotron resonance of the magnetohydrodynamic waves with the solar wind protons reflected by the moon. The energy of the reflected protons can account for the energy of the ULF waves. The propagation direction which are not parallel to the incident solar wind flow can explain the observed frequency and the nearly equal percentages of the left-handed and right-handed polarizations. Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union.

Because the solar wind (SW) flow is usually super-sonic, a fast-mode bow shock (BS) is formed in front of the Earth's magnetosphere, and the Moon crosses the BS at both dusk and dawn flanks. On the other hand, behind of the Moon along the SW flow forms a tenuous region called lunar wake, where the flow can be sub-Alfvenic (and thus sub-sonic) because of its low-density status. Here we report, with joint measurement by Chang'E-1 and SELENE, that the Earth's BS surface is drastically deformed in the lunar wake. Despite the quasi-perpendicular shock configuration encountered at dusk flank under the Parker-spiral magnetic field, no clear shock surface can be found in the lunar wake, while instead gradual transition of the magnetic field from the upstream to downstream value was observed for a several-minute interval. This finding suggests that the 'magnetic ramp' is highly broadened in the wake where a fast-mode shock is no longer maintained due to the highly reduced density. On the other hand, observations at the 100 km altitude on the dayside show that the fast-mode shock is maintained even when the width of the downstream region is smaller than a typical scale length of a perpendicular shock. Our results suggest that the Moon is not so large to eliminate the BS at 100 km altitude on the dayside, while the magnetic field associated with the shock structure is drastically affected in the lunar wake. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The high-specification computational power of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's new supercomputer system, called Fujitsu FX1 cluster, enables us to perform really macroscale 3-D situations with full particle plasma simulation [particle-in-cell (PIC) method]. A fully 3-D kinetic approach to collisionless shock problems, which is one of the most important problems in the space plasma science, is possible, and a challenging run is being executed for a pioneering study of the topic. About 0.4 billion grids are allocated for the electromagnetic fields, and about 0.1 trillion particles are loaded into the simulation run. The computational efficiency of the PIC code is about 8% of the peak performance (4.6 Tflops) using 5776 CPU cores (57 Tflops). The simulation parameters were selected to simulate ESA's Cluster-II spacecraft observational result reported by Seki et al. (in 2009). The full mass ratio m(i)/m(epsilon) = 1840 was taken for this simulation, and almost one ion inertia length square could be allocated for the simulation. In this simulation, a quite complicated wave activity is found in the shock foot region. In this paper, comparing 3-D results with 2-D simulation results, a 3-D nature of shock transition region of quasi-perpendicular shock is reported.

The Geotail spacecraft made in situ observations of magnetic reconnection on 15 May 2003 in the near-Earth magnetotail at a radial distance of 28 R-E when a moderate substorm started on the ground. For this event, the intense cross-tail electron current layer was detected in association with the simultaneous plasma flow and magnetic field reversals, and the scale length along the GSM x axis was obtained. This observation enables us to deduce scales for the basic structure of magnetic reconnection in the near-Earth magnetotail. In the center of the electron current layer (a possible X line), the speed of the dawnward electron flow carrying cross-tail current exceeds the maximum of the electron outflow speed (earthward/tailward), and it is highly super Alfvenic. The full extent of this central intense cross-tail electron current layer is approximately 1 lambda i (ion inertial length) in the x direction, which corresponds to 0.2 R-E in the magnetotail. Electron outflow speed reaches its maximum, which is also super Alfvenic, at distances of less than 1 lambda i from the X line, and ion outflow speed reaches its maximum farther away from the center. Electron outflow speed decreases in the downstream region, and it becomes the same as the ion speed at distances of 4 lambda i. The full extent of the ion-electron decoupling region is 8 lambda i in the x direction, which corresponds to 1.5 R-E in the magnetotail, and the outer region belongs to the MHD regime. Inside the ion-electron decoupling region, ions are accelerated up to 10 keV during inflow processes and further accelerated beyond 40 keV toward the duskward direction near the center and along the x axis slightly away from the center. These observations of the ion and electron dynamics in the close vicinity of the X line are fairly consistent with results from the two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation described here and others. The present Geotail results provide the observational basis for the structure of magnetic reconnection in the near-Earth magnetotail.

The Jovian polar magnetosphere has relativistic particle accelerations with quasi-periodicity (hereafter QP accelerations) that are accompanied by periodic auroral emissions and low-frequency radio bursts called quasi-periodic (QP) bursts. Some previous observations suggested a possible physical relationship between the QP accelerations and QP radio bursts. However, the cause of the QP accelerations has not been revealed yet. This study investigated the generation process of QP radio bursts that constrain the QP acceleration process. The statistical features of QP bursts' periodicity were investigated by applying Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis to the variations of the QP bursts' spectral densities observed by the Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft. The Lomb-Scargle analysis revealed remarkable characteristics: QP bursts have statistically large amplitudes with periods of 30-50 min at all latitudes. This result suggests that 30-50 min is an "eigenfrequency" of the QP accelerations which is close to the 45 min periodicity of the pulsating X-ray hot spot in the polar cap region. In addition, it was also revealed that successive pulses sometimes exhibit periodicity transition. We discussed one possible scenario which links Jovian periodic accelerations to those in the terrestrial magnetosphere. The scenario is that particles are energized within the period of the dispersive Alfven waves with field-aligned electric fields that obliquely propagate between the northern and southern ionospheres. The observed eigenfrequency and periodicity transition of QP bursts are consistent with the Alfvenic acceleration scenario.

We have performed 2.5-dimensional full particle simulations of an MHD-scale Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) vortex and accompanying magnetic reconnection. This is the first study of so-called vortex-induced reconnection (VIR) using kinetic simulations. First, as a key property of the VIR, we found that magnetic reconnection occurs at multiple points in the current sheet compressed by the flow of the KH vortex. The resulting multiple mesoscale islands are carried toward the vortex body along the vortex flow and then are incorporated into the vortex body via re-reconnection. The rates of the first reconnection and second re-reconnection are both generally higher than that of spontaneous reconnection; both reconnection processes are of driven nature. Noteworthy is that the high rate of the first reconnection leads to strong magnetic field pileup within the multiple islands. This characteristic magnetic structure of the islands could be used as new observational evidence for the occurrence of the VIR. Next, as a key kinetic aspect of the VIR, we found that a series of the multiple island formation and incorporation processes causes efficient plasma mixing in real space and bidirectional magnetic field-aligned acceleration of electrons simultaneously within the vortex. These kinetic effects of the VIR could account for observed features of the Earth&apos;s low-latitude boundary layer, where mixed ions and bidirectional field-aligned electrons generally coexist.

The system size dependence of electron acceleration during large-scale magnetic island coalescence is studied via a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. Using a simulation box that is larger than those used in previous studies, injection by merging line acceleration and subsequent reacceleration inside a merged island are found to be the mechanisms for producing the most energetic electrons. This finding and knowledge of the reacceleration process enable us to predict that the high energy end of the electron energy spectrum continues to expand as the merged island size increases. Both the merging line acceleration and the reacceleration within a merged island require the island coalescence process to be so dynamic as to involve fast in-flow toward the center of a merged island. Once this condition is met in an early stage of the coalescence, it is likely to stay in the subsequent phase. In other words, if the thin elongated current sheet is initially able to host the dynamic magnetic island coalescence process, it will be a site where repeated upgrades in the maximum energy of electrons occur in a systematic manner. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3554660]

Magnetic reconnection in planetary magnetospheres plays important roles in energy and mass transfer in the steady state, and also possibly in transient large-scale disturbances. In this paper we report observations of a reconnection event in the Jovian magnetotail by the Galileo spacecraft on 17 June 1997. In addition to the tailward retreat of a main X-line, signatures of recurrent X-line formations are found by close examination of energetic particle anisotropies. Furthermore, detailed analyses of multi-instrumental data for this period provide various spatiotemporal features in the plasma sheet. A significant density decrease was detected in the central plasma sheet, indicative of the transition to lobe (open field line) reconnection from plasma sheet (closed field line) reconnection. When Galileo vertically swept through the plasma sheet, a velocity layer structure was observed. We also analyze a strong southward magnetic field which is similar to dipolarization fronts observed in the terrestrial magnetotail: the ion flow (∼450 km s -1) was observed behind the magnetic front, whose thickness of 10000-20000 km was of the order of ion inertial length. The electron anisotropy in this period suggests an anomalously high-speed electron jet, implying ion-electron decoupling behind the magnetic front. Particle energization was also seen associated with these structures. These observations suggest that X-line evolution and consequent plasma sheet structures are similar to those in the terrestrial magnetosphere, whereas their generality in the Jovian magnetosphere and influence on the magnetospheric/ionospheric dynamics including transient auroral events need to be further investigated with more events. © 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

The "Conjunction Event Finder (CEF)" is a Web tool for seamlessly browsing quick-look (QL) data from many different kinds of satellites and ground-based instruments in solar-terrestrial physics. The QL plots are generally scattered all over the world, so that browsing many of them is so far very troublesome and inefficient. Just a simple procedure on the CEF, however, generates a collection of links to the QL plots for a period of interest, allowing us to check the data much more efficiently than ever. Hence this tool is powerful in finding interesting events of conjunction observations by satellites and ground-based instruments. The CEF is available in the Data ARchives and Transmission System (DARTS) at Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Japan.

In a thin elongated current sheet, it is likely that more than one X-line forms and thus multiple magnetic islands are produced. The islands are then subject to merging. By simulating such a case with a two-dimensional full-particle code, we show that a merger forming a large island produces the most energetic electron population in the system. By setting the lateral extent of the simulation box to be as large as similar to 100 ion inertial lengths, we introduce many (16) small islands in the initial thin current sheet (similar to 1 ion inertial length thickness). Merging of these islands proceeds to leave only two islands in the system. Then, strong electron acceleration is seen upon the final merger that produces the single island in the large simulation box. The most energetic electrons in the system are accelerated at the merging line. The merging line acceleration dominates because the reverse-reconnection facilitating the final merger is in such a strongly driven manner that the associated electric field is an order of magnitude larger than those available upon normal reconnection. Combining the results from additional runs enables us to obtain a scaling law, which suggests a non-negligible role played by merging lines in the observed electron acceleration phenomena. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3491123]

MAP-PACE (MAgnetic field and Plasma experiment-Plasma energy Angle and Composition Experiment) on SELENE (Kaguya) has completed its similar to 1.5-year observation of low-energy charged particles around the Moon. MAP-PACE consists of 4 sensors: ESA (Electron Spectrum Analyzer)-S1, ESA-S2, IMA (Ion Mass Analyzer), and IEA (Ion Energy Analyzer). ESA-S1 and S2 measured the distribution function of low-energy electrons in the energy range 6 eV-9 keV and 9 eV-16 keV, respectively. IMA and IEA measured the distribution function of low-energy ions in the energy ranges 7 eV/q-28 keV/q and 7 eV/q-29 keV/q. All the sensors performed quite well as expected from the laboratory experiment carried out before launch. Since each sensor has a hemispherical field of view, two electron sensors and two ion sensors installed on the spacecraft panels opposite each other could cover the full 3-dimensional phase space of low-energy electrons and ions. One of the ion sensors IMA is an energy mass spectrometer. IMA measured mass-specific ion energy spectra that have never before been obtained at a 100 km altitude polar orbit around the Moon. The newly observed data show characteristic ion populations around the Moon. Besides the solar wind, MAP-PACE-IMA found four clearly distinguishable ion populations on the day-side of the Moon: (1) Solar wind protons backscattered at the lunar surface, (2) Solar wind protons reflected by magnetic anomalies on the lunar surface, (3) Reflected/backscattered protons picked-up by the solar wind, and (4) Ions originating from the lunar surface/lunar exosphere.

We study effect of the solar wind (SW) proton entry deep into the near-Moon wake that was recently discovered by the SELENE mission. Because previous lunar-wake models are based on electron dominance, no effect of SW proton entry has been taken into account. We show that the type-II entry of SW protons forms proton-governed region (PGR) to drastically change the electromagnetic environment of the lunar wake. Broadband electrostatic noise found in the PGR is manifestation of electron two-stream instability, which is attributed to the counter-streaming electrons attracted from the ambient SW to maintain the quasi neutrality. Acceleration of the absorbed electrons up to similar to 1 keV means a superabundance of positive charges of 10(-5)-10(-7) cm(-3) in the near-Moon wake, which should be immediately canceled out by the incoming high-speed electrons. This is a general phenomenon in the lunar wake, because PGR does not necessarily require peculiar SW conditions for its formation. Citation: Nishino, M. N., et al. (2010), Effect of the solar wind proton entry into the deepest lunar wake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L12106, doi: 10.1029/2010GL043948.

BepiColombo is an interdisciplinary mission to explore Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, carried out jointly between the European Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. From dedicated orbits two spacecraft will be studying the planet and its environment. The scientific payload of both spacecraft will provide the detailed information necessary to understand the origin and evolution of the planet itself and its surrounding environment. The scientific objectives focus on a global characterization of Mercury through the investigation of its interior, surface, exosphere and magneto-sphere. In addition, instrumentation onboard BepiColombo will be used to test Einstein's theory of general relativity. Major effort was put into optimizing the scientific return of the mission by defining a payload complement such that individual measurements can be interrelated and complement each other. This paper gives an in-depth overview of BepiColombo spacecraft composite and the mission profile. It describes the suite of scientific instruments on board of the two BepiColombo spacecraft and the science goals of the mission. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mercury possesses a weak, internal, global magnetic field that supports a small magnetosphere populated by charged particles originating from the solar wind, the planet's exosphere and surface layers. Mercury's exosphere is continuously refilled and eroded through a variety of chemical and physical processes acting in the planet's surface and environment. Using simultaneous two-point measurements from two satellites, ESA's future mission BepiColombo will offer an unprecedented opportunity to investigate magnetospheric and exospheric dynamics at Mercury as well as their interactions with solar radiation and interplanetary dust. The expected data will provide important insights into the evolution of a planet in close proximity of a star. Many payload instruments aboard the two spacecraft making up the mission will be completely, or partially, devoted to studying the close environment of the planet as well as the complex processes that govern it. Coordinated measurements by different onboard instruments will permit a wider range of scientific questions to be addressed than those that could be achieved by the individual instruments acting alone. Thus, an important feature of the BepiColombo mission is that simultaneous two-point measurements can be implemented at a location in space other than the Earth. These joint observations are of key importance because many phenomena in Mercury's environment are temporarily and spatially varying. In the present paper, we focus on some of the exciting scientific goals achievable during the BepiColombo mission through making coordinated observations. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In contrast to many ground-based optical observations of the thin lunar alkali exosphere, in situ observations of the exospheric ions by satellite-borne plasma instruments have been quite rare. MAP-PACE-IMA onboard Japanese lunar orbiter SELENE (KAGUYA) succeeded in detecting Moon originating ions at 100 km altitude. Here we make the first report of the ion detection during intervals when the Moon was embedded in the Earth's magnetotail lobe. In the absence of plasma effects on the source process, ion species of H(+), He(++), He(+), C(+), O(+), Na(+), K(+) and Ar(+) are definitively identified. The ion fluxes were higher when the solar zenith angle was smaller, which is consistent with the idea that the solar photon driven processes dominates in supplying exospheric components. Citation: Tanaka, T., et al. (2009), First in situ observation of the Moon-originating ions in the Earth's Magnetosphere by MAP-PACE on SELENE (KAGUYA), Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L22106, doi: 10.1029/2009GL040682.

We study solar wind (SW) entry deep into the near-Moon wake using SELENE (KAGUYA) data. It has been known that SW protons flowing around the Moon access the central region of the distant lunar wake, while their intrusion deep into the near-Moon wake has never been expected. We show that SW protons sneak into the deepest lunar wake (anti-subsolar region at similar to 100 km altitude), and that the entry yields strong asymmetry of the near-Moon wake environment. Particle trajectory calculations demonstrate that these SW protons are once scattered at the lunar dayside surface, picked-up by the SW motional electric field, and finally sneak into the deepest wake. Our results mean that the SW protons scattered at the lunar dayside surface and coming into the night side region are crucial for plasma environment in the wake, suggesting absorption of ambient SW electrons into the wake to maintain quasi-neutrality. Citation: Nishino, M. N., et al. (2009), Solar-wind proton access deep into the near-Moon wake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L16103, doi:10.1029/2009GL039444.

We study solar wind (SW) intrusion into the near-Moon wake using SELENE (KAGUYA) data. It has been known that SW protons are gradually accelerated toward the wake center along magnetic field in the distant lunar wake, while SW intrusion into the near-Moon wake has never been measured. We show that the SW protons come into the lunar wake at similar to 100 km altitude in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field, as they gain kinetic energy in one hemisphere while lose in the other hemisphere. Particle trajectory calculations and theoretical treatment demonstrate that proton Larmor motions and inward electric field around the wake boundary result in energy gain and loss of the SW protons. Our result shows emergence of proton particle dynamics around the near-Moon space, and suggests that the SW protons may relatively easily access the low-latitude and low-altitude region on the lunar night side. Citation: Nishino, M. N., et al. (2009), Pairwise energy gain-loss feature of solar wind protons in the near-Moon wake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L12108, doi: 10.1029/2009GL039049.

The Moon has no global intrinsic magnetic field and only has a very thin atmosphere. Ion measurements made from lunar orbit provide us with information regarding interactions between the solar wind and planetary surface, the surface composition through secondary ion mass spectrometry and the source and loss mechanisms of planetary tenuous atmosphere. An ion energy mass spectrometer MAP-PACE IMA onboard a lunar orbiter SELENE (KAGUYA) has detected low-energy ions at 100-km altitude. The MAP-PACE measurements have elucidated that the ions originate from the lunar surface and exosphere and that the ions are at least composed of He(+), C(+), O(+), Na(+) and K(+). Following the discovery of the lunar Na and K exospheres by the ground-based observation, MAP-PACE IMA have found the He, C and O exospheres around the Moon. Citation: Yokota, S., et al. (2009), First direct detection of ions originating from the Moon by MAP-PACE IMA onboard SELENE (KAGUYA), Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L11201, doi:10.1029/2009GL038185.

Most of the visible universe is in the highly ionised plasma state, and most of that plasma is collision-free. Three physical phenomena are responsible for nearly all of the processes that accelerate particles, transport material and energy, and mediate flows in systems as diverse as radio galaxy jets and supernovae explosions through to solar flares and planetary magnetospheres. These processes in turn result from the coupling amongst phenomena at macroscopic fluid scales, smaller ion scales, and down to electron scales. Cross-Scale, in concert with its sister mission SCOPE (to be provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency-JAXA), is dedicated to quantifying that nonlinear, time-varying coupling via the simultaneous in-situ observations of space plasmas performed by a fleet of 12 spacecraft in near-Earth orbit. Cross-Scale has been selected for the Assessment Phase of Cosmic Vision by the European Space Agency.

The exploration of the Jovian System and its fascinating satellite Europa is one of the priorities presented in ESA's "Cosmic Vision" strategic document. The Jovian System indeed displays many facets. It is a small planetary system in its own right, built-up out of the mixture of gas and icy material that was present in the external region of the solar nebula. Through a complex history of accretion, internal differentiation and dynamic interaction, a very unique satellite system formed, in which three of the four Galilean satellites are locked in the so-called Laplace resonance. The energy and angular momentum they exchange among themselves and with Jupiter contribute to various degrees to the internal heating sources of the satellites. Unique among these satellites, Europa is believed to shelter an ocean between its geodynamically active icy crust and its silicate mantle, one where the main conditions for habitability may be fulfilled. For this very reason, Europa is one of the best candidates for the search for life in our Solar System. So, is Europa really habitable, representing a "habitable zone" in the Jupiter system? To answer this specific question, we need a dedicated mission to Europa. But to understand in a more generic way the habitability conditions around giant planets, we need to go beyond Europa itself and address two more general questions at the scale of the Jupiter system: to what extent is its possible habitability related to the initial conditions and formation scenario of the Jovian satellites? To what extent is it due to the way the Jupiter system works? ESA's Cosmic Vision programme offers an ideal and timely framework to address these three key questions. Building on the in-depth reconnaissance of the Jupiter System by Galileo (and the Voyager, Ulysses, Cassini and New Horizons fly-by's) and on the anticipated accomplishments of NASA's JUNO mission, it is now time to design and fly a new mission which will focus on these three major questions. LAPLACE, as we propose to call it, will deploy in the Jovian system a triad of orbiting platforms to perform coordinated observations of its main components: Europa, our priority target, the Jovian satellites, Jupiter's magnetosphere and its atmosphere and interior. LAPLACE will consolidate Europe's role and visibility in the exploration of the Solar System and will foster the development of technologies for the exploration of deep space in Europe. Its multi-platform and multi-target architecture, combined with its broadly multidisciplinary scientific dimension, will provide an outstanding opportunity to build a broad international collaboration with all interested nations and space agencies.

We report multi-spacecraft and ground-based observations of a "sawtooth" event on 20 November 2007. For this event, data from three THEMIS, two GOES, and four LANL spacecraft are available as well as those from extensively distributed ground magnetometers and all-sky imagers. In the present paper we focus on the spatial extents of the electromagnetic and particle signatures of the first "tooth". In this event, auroral images and ground magnetic bays showed two activations: a pseudo onset and a major onset (we use the term pseudo onset since the former auroral brightening did not significantly expand poleward). Ground magnetic bay observations indicate that the substorm current wedge (SCW) developed after the major onset in an azimuthally wide region of similar to 14-3 h MLT. Similarly, broad magnetic bay distribution was observed also for the pseudo onset prior to the major onset. Furthermore, around the pseudo onset, magnetic dipolarisations were observed from 0.5 to 5 h MLT. These observations illustrate that, during sawtooth events, activities following not only the major onset but also the pseudo onset can extend more widely than those during usual substorms. Remarkable electromagnetic field fluctuations embedded in the dipolarisation trend were seen at 0.5 and 2.5 h MLT. In particular, comprehensive plasma and field data from THEMIS showed the presence of a long-excited weak magnetosonic wave and an impulsive large-amplitude Alfven wave with an earthward Poynting flux at around the eastward edge of the SCW; the latter was sufficiently strong for powering aurora (140mW/m(2) when mapped to the ionosphere). These two activations of the electromagnetic wave were identified, corresponding to the pseudo onset and the major onset. On the other hand, the dipolarisation at geosynchronous 0 h MLT was observed only after the major onset, despite its closer location to the centre of the auroral activity in terms of the MLT; this indicates that the inner radial limit of the dipolarisation region at the pseudo onset was tailward of geosynchronous altitude at 0 h MLT. The outer radial limit of the electron injection region was also found at similar to 10 R-E by conjunction measurements with THEMIS satellites. These radial distributions are not significantly different to those expected for usual substorms.

We examine fast plasma flows and magnetic field fluctuations observed by THEMIS at 03:00-03:30 UT on 12 December 2007. All THEMIS probes are situated in the near-Earth plasma sheet (X(SM)&gt;-10 R(E)) with 1-2 R(E) spacecraft separations in azimuthal and radial directions. We focus on the observations of plasma convective flows made simultaneously by more than one THEMIS probe. At about 03:10 UT and 03:14 UT, the THEMIS P2 probe observed earthward flows of &gt; 100 km/s. The THEMIS P1 probe, located duskward and earthward of P2, observed tailward flows under a positive B(z). The inner most probe THEMIS P4, located at almost the same MLT as THEMIS P1 and P2, did not see any clear flow. We examine the convective flow patterns for the THEMIS observations. We conclude that plasma vortices are formed near the region where the earthward flows slow down and turn in azimuthal directions.

We examine traversais on 20 November 2001 of the equatorial magnetopause boundary layer simultaneously at ∼ 1500 magnetic local time (MLT) by the Geotail spacecraft and at ∼1900 MLT by the Cluster spacecraft, which detected rolled-up MHDscale vortices generated by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) under prolonged northward interplanetary magnetic field conditions. Our purpose is to address the excitation process of the KHI, MHD-scale and ion-scale structures of the vortices, and the formation mechanism of the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL). The observed KH wavelength (&gt 4 × 104 km) is considerably longer man predicted by the linear theory from the thickness (∼1000 km) of the dayside velocity shear layer. Our analyses suggest that the KHI excitation is facilitated by combined effects of the formation of the LLBL presumably through high-latitude magnetopause reconnection and compressional magnetosheath fluctuations on the dayside, and that breakup and/or coalescence of the vortices are beginning around 1900 MLT. Current layers of thickness a few times ion inertia length ∼100 km and of magnetic shear ∼60° existed at the trailing edges of the vortices. Identified in one such current sheet were signatures of local reconnection: Alfvénic outflow jet within a bifurcated current sheet, nonzero magnetic field component normal to the sheet, and field-aligned beam of accelerated electrons. Because of its incipient nature, however, this reconnection process is unlikely to lead to the observed dusk-flank LLBL. It is thus inferred that the flank LLBL resulted from other mechanisms, namely, diffusion and/or remote reconnection unidentified by Cluster. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

We have newly developed an electron energy analyzer FESA (Fast Electron energy Spectrum Analyzer) for a future magnetospheric satellite mission SCOPE. The SCOPE mission is designed in order that observational studies from the cross-scale coupling viewpoint are enabled. One of the key observations necessary for the SCOPE mission is high-time resolution electron measurement. Eight FESAs on a spinning spacecraft are capable of measuring three dimensional electron distribution function with time resolution of 8 msec. FESA consists of two electrostatic analyzers that are composed of three nested hemispherical deflectors. Single FESA functions as four top-hat type electrostatic analyzers that can measure electrons with four different energies simultaneously. By measuring the characteristics of the test model FESA, we proved the validity of the design concept of FESA. Based on the measured characteristics, we designed FESA optimized for the SCOPE mission. This optimized analyzer has good enough performance to measure three dimensional electron distribution functions around the magnetic reconnection region in the Earth's magnetotail.