We investigate the magnetopause stability and mixing using a new three-fluid model aimed at reproducing the system configuration obtained directly from satellite data. This realistic model is a basic starting point for numerical simulations; however, the realistic three-fluid equilibrium presented in this paper should allow this work to be taken a step further and could be applied to other experimental cases in the future.

Jets of solar-wind plasma commonly hit the Earth's magnetosphere. Using data from the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft, we show statistically that within jets the magnetic field is more aligned with the plasma flow direction than outside of these jets. Our study confirms prior simulation results, but it also shows that the average effect is moderate. The jets' magnetic field is important with respect to their impact on space weather.

Powerful radio waves transmitted into the ionosphere give the strongest turbulence effects in geomagnetic zenith, antiparallel to the magnetic field in the Northern Hemisphere. Our results obtained with the EISCAT (European Incoherent SCATter association) Heating facility in Norway and the EISCAT UHF incoherent scatter radar together with modelling suggest that the pump wave propagates in the L mode, rather than in the O mode that is usually assumed to be involved in such experiments.

Currents are believed to exist in mirror-mode structures and to be self-consistent with the magnetic field depression. Bipolar currents are found in two ion-scale magnetic dips. The bipolar current in a small-size magnetic dip is mainly contributed by electron velocities, which is mainly formed by the magnetic gradient–curvature drift. For another large-size magnetic dip, the bipolar current is mainly caused by an ion bipolar velocity, which can be explained by the ion drift motions.

Interannual variabilities of the zonal mean wind and temperature related to the Rossby wave forcing in the winter stratosphere of the Southern Hemisphere are studied using 38-year reanalysis data. Correlation of the mean fields to the wave forcing is extended to the subtropics of the Northern Hemisphere. This interhemispheric link is caused by the wave forcing which reduces the meridional gradient of the angular momentum and drives the meridional circulation over the Equator in the stratosphere.

The empirical orthogonal function (EOF) decomposition was utilized to analyze the similarities and differences of the spatiotemporal characteristics between GIM TEC and IRI TEC at a global scale. We combined the IRI TEC and GIM TEC data to form a whole data set for EOF decomposition and compared the two data sets. Results show that the daily averaged solar forcing and interhemispheric asymmetry components were the main factors for the deviation between the IRI-2016 and GIM TEC.

We study the impact of the geomagnetic storm of 7–9 September 2017 on the low- to mid-latitude ionosphere. The study is based on the analysis of data from the Global Positioning System (GPS) stations and magnetic observatories located at different longitudinal sectors corresponding to the Pacific, Asia, Africa and the Americas during the period 4–14 September 2017. The GPS data are used to derive the global, regional and vertical total electron content (vTEC) in the four selected regions.

The aim of this study is to bring local variabilities into a global context. To qualitatively study the impact of global waves on local measurements in winter, we combine local lidar measurements with global MERRA-2 reanalysis data. Our results show that about 98 % of the local day-to-day variability can be explained by the variability of waves with zonal wave numbers 1, 2 and 3. Thus locally measured effects which are not based on global wave variability can be investigated much better.

Here the investigation of gravity wave (GW) properties in the low ionosphere using very low frequency (VLF) radio signals is presented. The VLF technique is a powerful tool to obtain the wave period and duration of GW events in the low ionosphere. It can be used independent of sky conditions, during daytime and year-round, which is an advantage in comparison with airglow all-sky imagers.

This study investigates the influence of the 2015 Calbuco eruption (41.2°S, 72.4°W; Chile) on the total columnar aerosol optical properties in the Southern Hemisphere. The well-known technique of sun photometry was applied to the investigation of the transport and the spatio-temporal evolution of the optical properties of the volcanic plume. The CIMEL sun photometer measurements performed over six South American and three African sites were statistically analyzed.

Temperatures obtained from FORMOSAT-3 and COSMIC observations in the stratosphere are analysed for tidal variations. It is seen that non-migrating tides are not very significant in the high-latitude winter stratosphere. It is shown that the observed amplitudes of these tides in earlier studies are most probably a result of aliasing and are not geophysical in nature. Thus, the process of non-linear interactions through which it was believed that they are produced seems to be unimportant.

In this paper, an extensive study has been done in order to investigate periodic oscillations in the start times of equatorial plasma bubbles observed over Brazil. Using OI6300 airglow images and ionograms, it was possible to detect semimonthly oscillations in the start times of equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) and equatorial Spread-F. This semimonthly oscillation is likely related to the lunar tide, which represents an important mechanism acting in the day-to-day variability of EPBs.

The monthly averages of the F2 critical frequency (foF2), its peak height (hmF2), and the E-region critical frequency (foE) acquired by the DPS4-D installed in Santa Maria, Brazil, is compared to the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI-2016) model predictions. It is important to test the performance of the IRI over Santa Maria because it is located in the SAMA, which is a region particularly important for high-frequency (HF) ground-to-satellite navigation signals.

The first 10 min interval of Pi2 onset is the most active period of substorms composed of field line deformations associated with an increase in curvature radius of flux tubes and their longitudinal expansion. The flux tube deformations were triggered by the ballooning instability of slow magnetoacoustic waves upon arrival of the dipolarization front from the tail. They preceded the classical dipolarization caused by the reduction of cross-tail currents and resulting pileup of the field lines.

The Earth's polar upper atmosphere changes along with the magnetic field, other parts of the atmosphere, and the Sun. When studying these changes, knowing the polar region that the data come from is vital, as different processes dominate the area where the aurora is and poleward of the aurora (the polar cap). The boundary between these areas is hard to find, so this study used a different boundary and figured out how they are related. Future studies can now find their polar region more easily.

In this paper we have used Cluster EDI data in combination with the CODIF cusp dataset from Slapak et al. (2017) to obtain parallel and convection velocities for oxygen ions; 69 % of total oxygen outflow from the high-altitude cusps escapes the magnetosphere on average; 50 % escapes tailward beyond the distant X-line. The oxygen capture-versus-escape ratio is highly dependent on geomagnetic conditions. During active conditions, the majority of oxygen outflow is convected to the plasma sheet.

Some strong gravity wave activity occurred and was observed on 8 April 2005. This work reports the spectral characteristics of these waves using OH airglow images captured by the all-sky imager installed at São João do Cariri (7.4° S, 36.5° W). A preferential propagation direction was observed due to the positioning of the source and also due to the wind filtering effect. Furthermore, the source of these waves was identified by performing reverse-ray tracing analysis.

To get the global distribution of the stratification phenomenon, the in situ plasma density measurements, obtained by the Swarm satellites orbiting at different altitudes above the F2 peak, are used to study this phenomenon. The continuous morphology of this phenomenon and its features along the latitudinal direction are obtained, and a new discovery from the in situ measurements is the stratification on southern mid-latitudes.

This is an extensive model study to analyze the migrating quarterdiurnal solar tide (QDT) and its forcing mechanisms in the middle atmosphere. We first show a climatology of the QDT amplitudes and examine the contribution of the different forcing mechanisms, including direct solar, nonlinear and gravity wave forcing, on the QDT amplitude. We then investigate the destructive interference between the individual forcing mechanisms.

It is often claimed that a relationship between atmospheric temperature and geomagnetic activity exists. The aim of this paper is to highlight how the use of statistical tests, used to establish such a relationship, can be prone to misinterpretation when temporal and spatial autocorrelations are not taken into account. When these autocorrelations are considered, the relationship between temperature and geomagnetic activity no longer exists.

Coronal mass ejection sheaths and ejecta are key drivers of significant space weather storms, and they cause dramatic changes in radiation belt electron fluxes. Differences in precipitation of high-energy electrons from the belts to the upper atmosphere are thus expected. We investigate here differences in sheath- and ejecta-induced precipitation using the Finnish riometer (relative ionospheric opacity meter) chain.

The boundary of regions with a plasma density much lower than background was investigated in the northern polar cap using observations of ionospheric plasma density. Similar regions with an above-background density have been linked to fluctuations in phase and amplitude in radio waves traversing the density gradient at their boundary. These fluctuations were absent through the gradient in the below-background regions; thus, a minimum of both density and gradient are required for scintillation.

This paper investigates a feature in the Southern Hemisphere ionosphere that is observed near midday in the form of a localized enhancement of the electron density. After being discovered in global ionospheric maps, the enhancements were also observed via in situ measurements of the electron concentration. The probability of detecting an enhancement is maximal during the autumn–winter period and does not seem to be directly dependent on geomagnetic indices or solar wind parameters.