Acoustic-type waves are widespread in solar and space plasmas where they contribute to energy transport and release. We discovered a new channel for nonlinear coupling among oblique sound waves with vastly different wavelengths across the background magnetic field. The resulting nonlocal spectral transfer is much faster than the previously known transfer produced by the local interactions among waves with similar wavelengths.

We demonstrate that deterministic forecasting methods can make accurate short-term predictions of wind speed using past data. The predictions are remarkably accurate up to 1 hour and reasonably accurate up to 3 hours. Comparison of the results with f-ARIMA model predictions shows that the deterministic models with suitable parameters are capable of returning improved prediction accuracy and capturing the dynamical variations of the actual time series more faithfully.

We discuss three flybys (within an 8-day time span) of comet 1P/Halley by VEGA 1, 2 and Giotto. Looking at two different plasma phenomena: mirror mode waves and field line draping; we study the differences in SW--comet interaction between these three flybys. We find that on this time scale (comparable to Rosetta's orbits) there is a significant difference, both caused by changing outgassing rate of the comet and changes in the solar wind. We discuss implications for Rosetta RPC observations.