This study concerns postmidnight ionospheric irregularities observed during low solar activity conditions. We analyze data from digisondes and optical imaging systems located in an equatorial region over Brazil. The results show that they occur under unfavorable and unexpected conditions. This work can be useful for space weather forecasting during low solar activity.

The comparison of geomagnetic active and quite events of double substorm onsets responsive to IMF variations shows that the occurrence sequence of all required substorm signatures looks the same and not different for small and large Kp. Double substorm onsets responsive to IMF variations can be characterized with two-stage magnetic dipolarizations in the magnetotail, two auroral breakups of which the first occurring at lower latitudes than the second, and two consecutive Pi2-Ps6 band pulsations.

This paper performs a statistical study of the spatial distribution and source region size along a filed line of both rising tone and falling tone whistler waves based on the Van Allen Probes data. The results suggest that both types of chorus waves are generated near the equatorial plane, roughly consistent with previous theoretical estimates. The work should be useful to further understand the generation mechanism of chorus waves.

We have studied fast plasma jets outside of Earth’s magnetic environment. Such jets are small-scale structures with a limited lifetime, which may be important in determining the properties of the near-Earth space environment, due to their concentrated kinetic energy. We have used data from the NASA Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) satellites to study their properties in detail, to understand how these jets are formed. We have found evidence that there are at least two different types of jets.

This paper describes frequency and timing calibration, modeling and data processing and calibration for MMS magnetometers, resulting in a merged search choil and fluxgate data product.

The solar wind magnetic field drapes around the active nucleus of comet 67P/CG, creating a magnetosphere. The solar wind density increases and with that the pressure, which compresses the magnetosphere, increasing the magnetic field strength near Rosetta. The higher solar wind density also creates more ionization through collisions with the gas from the comet. The new ions are picked-up by the magnetic field and generate mirror-mode waves, creating low-field high-density "bottles" near 67P/CG.

Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous process that drives global-scale dynamics in plasmas. For reconnection to proceed, both ion and electrons must be unfrozen in a localized diffusion region. By analyzing in situ measurements, we show that the non-gyrotropic ion pressure is mainly responsible for breaking the ion frozen-in condition in reconnection. The reported non-gyrotropic ion pressure tensor can specify the reconnection electric field that controls how quickly reconnection proceeds.

We present a first report on magnetic field measurements made in the coma of comet 67P/C-G in its low-activity state. The plasma environment is dominated by quasi-coherent, large-amplitude, compressional magnetic field oscillations around 40mHz, differing from the observations at strongly active comets where waves at the cometary ion gyro-frequencies are the main feature. We propose a cross-field current instability associated with the newborn cometary ions as a possible source mechanism.