Articles | Volume 44, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-227-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-227-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Regular paper
| 
27 Mar 2026
Regular paper |
| 27 Mar 2026
| 27 Mar 2026
Mapping transition region flows to the ionosphere in a global hybrid-Vlasov simulation
Venla Koikkalainen
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Maxime Grandin
Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Emilia Kilpua
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Abiyot Workayehu
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Ivan Zaitsev
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Liisa Juusola
Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Markku Alho
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Lauri Pänkäläinen
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Giulia Cozzani
LPC2E, OSUC, Univ Orleans, CNRS, CNES, Orleans, France
Konstantinos Horaites
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Jonas Suni
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Yann Pfau-Kempf
CSC – IT Center for Science, Espoo, Finland
Urs Ganse
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Minna Palmroth
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
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Abiyot Workayehu, Minna Palmroth, Maxime Grandin, Liisa Juusola, Markku Alho, Ivan Zaitsev, Venla Koikkalainen, Konstantinos Horaites, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Urs Ganse, Markus Battarbee, and Jonas Suni
Ann. Geophys., 43, 723–737, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-723-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-723-2025, 2025
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This study investigates the ionospheric signatures of a Bursty Bulk Flow in Earth’s magnetotail using a global 6D hybrid-Vlasov simulation coupled with an ionospheric model. The results show that a reconnection-driven Bursty Bulk Flow generates vortices that produce field-aligned currents, which map to the ionosphere with a distinct east–west orientation and exhibit a characteristic westward drift. Variations in ionospheric observables are identified as clear signatures of this flow.
Venla Koikkalainen, Emilia Kilpua, Simon Good, and Adnane Osmane
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 32, 309–327, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-309-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-309-2025, 2025
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We study time series of solar wind large-scale structures (magnetic clouds, sheaths, slow and fast streams). These have profound importance with regard to causing disturbances in the heliospheric conditions and driving space weather on Earth. The used techniques include methods derived from information theory to determine entropy and complexity. We find that all of these techniques show stochastic fluctuations, but magnetic clouds stand out due to their coherent magnetic field.
Emilia K. J. Kilpua, Simon Good, Matti Ala-Lahti, Adnane Osmane, and Venla Koikkalainen
Ann. Geophys., 42, 163–177, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-163-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-163-2024, 2024
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The solar wind is organised into slow and fast streams, interaction regions, and transient structures originating from solar eruptions. Their internal characteristics are not well understood. A more comprehensive understanding of such features can give insight itno physical processes governing their formation and evolution. Using tools from information theory, we find that the solar wind shows universal turbulent properties on smaller scales, while on larger scales, clear differences arise.
Liisa Juusola, Ari Viljanen, Ilja Honkonen, Magnar Gullikstad Johnsen, Andrew Dimmock, Vanina Lanabere, and Alice Wallner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1110, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1110, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Annales Geophysicae (ANGEO).
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During severe space storms, the induced geoelectric field has the potential to cause substantial problems in power grids. We examine the geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) the geoelectric field would have driven in a simple model power grid located in Northern Europe during the May 2024 superstorm. Our results help us understand how the complicated interaction between the driving from space and the response of the conducting ground produces the most intense GIC peaks.
Maxime Grandin, Liisa Juusola, Noora Partamies, Emma Bruus, Joona Rautiainen, Donna Lach, Jia Jia, Max van de Kamp, Eero Karvinen, Kirsti Kauristie, and Theresa Hoppe
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5374, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5374, 2025
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Dune aurora is an intriguing phenomenon recently discovered thanks to citizen science. It is a dim, diffuse auroral form exhibiting wave-like stripes of brighter emission. We carry out the first statistical study of dune aurora, using 289 observation reports submitted to the Skywarden database by citizen scientists from Europe, North America, and Oceania. We find that dunes are an evening phenomenon, most often reported in March and October and associated with currents in the auroral atmosphere.
Liisa Juusola, Ilkka Virtanen, Spencer Mark Hatch, Heikki Vanhamäki, Maxime Grandin, Noora Partamies, Urs Ganse, Ilja Honkonen, Abiyot Workayehu, Antti Kero, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 43, 755–781, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-755-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-755-2025, 2025
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Key properties of the ionospheric electrodynamics are electric fields, currents, and conductances. They provide a window to the vast and distant near-Earth space, cause Joule heating that affect satellite orbits, and drive geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in technological conductor networks. We have developed a new method for solving the key properties of ionospheric electrodynamics from ground-based magnetic field observations.
Abiyot Workayehu, Minna Palmroth, Maxime Grandin, Liisa Juusola, Markku Alho, Ivan Zaitsev, Venla Koikkalainen, Konstantinos Horaites, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Urs Ganse, Markus Battarbee, and Jonas Suni
Ann. Geophys., 43, 723–737, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-723-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-723-2025, 2025
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This study investigates the ionospheric signatures of a Bursty Bulk Flow in Earth’s magnetotail using a global 6D hybrid-Vlasov simulation coupled with an ionospheric model. The results show that a reconnection-driven Bursty Bulk Flow generates vortices that produce field-aligned currents, which map to the ionosphere with a distinct east–west orientation and exhibit a characteristic westward drift. Variations in ionospheric observables are identified as clear signatures of this flow.
Shi Tao, Markku Alho, Ivan Zaitsev, Lucile Turc, Markus Battarbee, Urs Ganse, Yann Pfau-Kempf, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 43, 709–721, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-709-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-709-2025, 2025
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Plasma convection is the movement of plasma that drags the magnetic field lines with it. Magnetic field in the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetic field and drags the dayside field lines of the Earth's magnetosphere toward nightside, causing the plasma inside the magnetosphere to circulate around the Earth in a process called the Dungey Cycle. Our simulation and methodology desribe this cycle in detail and find features in the convection that are not explained by fluid models.
Venla Koikkalainen, Emilia Kilpua, Simon Good, and Adnane Osmane
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 32, 309–327, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-309-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-309-2025, 2025
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We study time series of solar wind large-scale structures (magnetic clouds, sheaths, slow and fast streams). These have profound importance with regard to causing disturbances in the heliospheric conditions and driving space weather on Earth. The used techniques include methods derived from information theory to determine entropy and complexity. We find that all of these techniques show stochastic fluctuations, but magnetic clouds stand out due to their coherent magnetic field.
Emilia Kilpua, Simon Good, Juska Soljento, Domenico Trotta, Tia Bäcker, Julia Ruohotie, Jens Pomoell, Chaitanya Sishtla, and Rami Vainio
Ann. Geophys., 43, 489–510, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-489-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-489-2025, 2025
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Interplanetary shock waves are one of the major forms of heliospheric transients that can have a profound impact on solar wind plasma and magnetic field conditions and accelerate charged particles to high energies. This work performs an extensive statistical analysis to detail how some of the key solar wind turbulence parameters, critical for understanding particle acceleration, are modified by the interplanetary shocks waves.
Yann Pfau-Kempf, Konstantinos Papadakis, Markku Alho, Markus Battarbee, Giulia Cozzani, Lauri Pänkäläinen, Urs Ganse, Fasil Kebede, Jonas Suni, Konstantinos Horaites, Maxime Grandin, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 43, 469–488, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-469-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-469-2025, 2025
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Flux ropes are peculiar structures of twisted magnetic field occurring in many regions of space, near Earth and other planets, at the Sun, and in astrophysical objects. We developed a new way of detecting flux ropes in large supercomputer simulations of near-Earth space, and we use it to follow the evolution of flux ropes for long distances past the Earth in the flow direction. This will be useful in future studies as these flux ropes are involved in the transport of matter and energy in space.
Noora Partamies, Rowan Dayton-Oxland, Katie Herlingshaw, Ilkka Virtanen, Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, Mikko Syrjäsuo, Fred Sigernes, Takanori Nishiyama, Toshi Nishimura, Mathieu Barthelemy, Anasuya Aruliah, Daniel Whiter, Lena Mielke, Maxime Grandin, Eero Karvinen, Marjan Spijkers, and Vincent E. Ledvina
Ann. Geophys., 43, 349–367, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-349-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-349-2025, 2025
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We studied the first broad band emissions, called continuum, in the dayside aurora. They are similar to Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) with white-, pale-pink-, or mauve-coloured light. But unlike STEVE, they follow the dayside aurora forming rays and other dynamic shapes. We used ground optical and radar observations and found evidence of heating and upwelling of both plasma and neutral air. This study provides new information on conditions for continuum emission, but its understanding will require further work.
Liisa Juusola, Heikki Vanhamäki, Elena Marshalko, Mikhail Kruglyakov, and Ari Viljanen
Ann. Geophys., 43, 271–301, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-271-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-271-2025, 2025
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Interaction between the magnetic field of the rapidly varying electric currents in space and the conducting ground produces an electric field at the Earth's surface. This geoelectric field drives geomagnetically induced currents in technological conductor networks, which can affect the performance of critical ground infrastructure such as electric power transmission grids. We have developed a new method suitable for monitoring the geoelectric field based on ground magnetic field observations.
Tuomas Häkkilä, Maxime Grandin, Markus Battarbee, Monika E. Szeląg, Markku Alho, Leo Kotipalo, Niilo Kalakoski, Pekka T. Verronen, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 43, 217–240, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-217-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-217-2025, 2025
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We study the atmospheric impact of auroral electron precipitation through the novel combination of both magnetospheric modelling and atmospheric modelling. We first simulate fluxes of auroral electrons and then use these fluxes to model their atmospheric impact. We find an increase of more than 200 % in thermospheric odd nitrogen and a corresponding decrease in stratospheric ozone of around 0.8 %. The produced auroral electron precipitation is realistic and shows potential for future studies.
Anton Fetzer, Mikko Savola, Adnane Osmane, Vili-Arttu Ketola, Philipp Oleynik, and Minna Palmroth
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1279, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1279, 2025
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Extreme events can pose serious risks to satellites, potentially disrupting communication, navigation, and power systems. Our study estimates the worst-case radiation levels during such an event and assesses their impact on electronics and solar panels.
Urs Ganse, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Hongyang Zhou, Liisa Juusola, Abiyot Workayehu, Fasil Kebede, Konstantinos Papadakis, Maxime Grandin, Markku Alho, Markus Battarbee, Maxime Dubart, Leo Kotipalo, Arnaud Lalagüe, Jonas Suni, Konstantinos Horaites, and Minna Palmroth
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 511–527, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-511-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-511-2025, 2025
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Vlasiator is a kinetic space plasma model that simulates the behavior of plasma, solar wind and magnetic fields in near-Earth space. So far, these simulations have been run without any interaction with the ionosphere, the uppermost layer of Earth's atmosphere. In this paper, we present the new methods that add an ionospheric electrodynamics model to Vlasiator, coupling it with the existing methods and presenting new simulation results of how space plasma and Earth's ionosphere interact.
Maxime Grandin, Emma Bruus, Vincent E. Ledvina, Noora Partamies, Mathieu Barthelemy, Carlos Martinis, Rowan Dayton-Oxland, Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, Yukitoshi Nishimura, Katie Herlingshaw, Neethal Thomas, Eero Karvinen, Donna Lach, Marjan Spijkers, and Calle Bergstrand
Geosci. Commun., 7, 297–316, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-297-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-297-2024, 2024
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We carried out a citizen science study of aurora sightings and technological disruptions experienced during the extreme geomagnetic storm of 10 May 2024. We collected reports from 696 observers from over 30 countries via an online survey, supplemented with observations logged in the Skywarden database. We found that the aurora was seen from exceptionally low latitudes and had very bright red and pink hues, suggesting that high fluxes of low-energy electrons from space entered the atmosphere.
Maxime Grandin, Noora Partamies, and Ilkka I. Virtanen
Ann. Geophys., 42, 355–369, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-355-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-355-2024, 2024
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Auroral displays typically take place at high latitudes, but the exact latitude where the auroral breakup occurs can vary. In this study, we compare the characteristics of the fluxes of precipitating electrons from space during auroral breakups occurring above Tromsø (central part of the auroral zone) and above Svalbard (poleward boundary of the auroral zone). We find that electrons responsible for the aurora above Tromsø carry more energy than those precipitating above Svalbard.
Leo Kotipalo, Markus Battarbee, Yann Pfau-Kempf, and Minna Palmroth
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6401–6413, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6401-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6401-2024, 2024
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This paper examines a method called adaptive mesh refinement in optimization of the space plasma simulation model Vlasiator. The method locally adjusts resolution in regions which are most relevant to modelling, based on the properties of the plasma. The runs testing this method show that adaptive refinement manages to highlight the desired regions with manageable performance overhead. Performance in larger-scale production runs and mitigation of overhead are avenues of further research.
Emilia K. J. Kilpua, Simon Good, Matti Ala-Lahti, Adnane Osmane, and Venla Koikkalainen
Ann. Geophys., 42, 163–177, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-163-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-163-2024, 2024
Short summary
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The solar wind is organised into slow and fast streams, interaction regions, and transient structures originating from solar eruptions. Their internal characteristics are not well understood. A more comprehensive understanding of such features can give insight itno physical processes governing their formation and evolution. Using tools from information theory, we find that the solar wind shows universal turbulent properties on smaller scales, while on larger scales, clear differences arise.
Markku Alho, Giulia Cozzani, Ivan Zaitsev, Fasil Tesema Kebede, Urs Ganse, Markus Battarbee, Maarja Bussov, Maxime Dubart, Sanni Hoilijoki, Leo Kotipalo, Konstantinos Papadakis, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Jonas Suni, Vertti Tarvus, Abiyot Workayehu, Hongyang Zhou, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 42, 145–161, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-145-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-145-2024, 2024
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Magnetic reconnection is one of the main processes for energy conversion and plasma transport in space plasma physics, associated with plasma entry into the magnetosphere of Earth and Earth’s substorm cycle. Global modelling of these plasma processes enables us to understand the magnetospheric system in detail. However, finding sites of active reconnection from large simulation datasets can be challenging, and this paper develops tools to find magnetic topologies related to reconnection.
Noora Partamies, Bas Dol, Vincent Teissier, Liisa Juusola, Mikko Syrjäsuo, and Hjalmar Mulders
Ann. Geophys., 42, 103–115, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-103-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-42-103-2024, 2024
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Auroral imaging produces large amounts of image data that can no longer be analyzed by visual inspection. Thus, every step towards automatic analysis tools is crucial. Previously supervised learning methods have been used in auroral physics, with a human expert providing ground truth. However, this ground truth is debatable. We present an unsupervised learning method, which shows promising results in detecting auroral breakups in the all-sky image data.
Sanni Hoilijoki, Emilia Kilpua, Adnane Osmane, Lucile Turc, Mikko Savola, Veera Lipsanen, Harriet George, and Milla Kalliokoski
Ann. Geophys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-2024-3, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-2024-3, 2024
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Structures originating from the Sun, such as coronal mass ejections and high-speed streams, may impact the Earth's magnetosphere differently. The occurrence rate of these structures depends on the phase solar cycle. We use mutual information to study the change in the statistical dependence between solar wind and inner magnetosphere. We find that the non-linearity between solar wind and inner magnetosphere varies over the solar cycle and during different solar wind drivers.
Jonas Suni, Minna Palmroth, Lucile Turc, Markus Battarbee, Giulia Cozzani, Maxime Dubart, Urs Ganse, Harriet George, Evgeny Gordeev, Konstantinos Papadakis, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Vertti Tarvus, Fasil Tesema, and Hongyang Zhou
Ann. Geophys., 41, 551–568, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-551-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-551-2023, 2023
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Magnetosheath jets are structures of enhanced plasma density and/or velocity in a region of near-Earth space known as the magnetosheath. When they propagate towards the Earth, these jets can disturb the Earth's magnetic field and cause hazards for satellites. In this study, we use a simulation called Vlasiator to model near-Earth space and investigate jets using case studies and statistical analysis. We find that jets that propagate towards the Earth are different from jets that do not.
Liisa Juusola, Ari Viljanen, Noora Partamies, Heikki Vanhamäki, Mirjam Kellinsalmi, and Simon Walker
Ann. Geophys., 41, 483–510, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-483-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-483-2023, 2023
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At times when auroras erupt on the sky, the magnetic field surrounding the Earth undergoes rapid changes. On the ground, these changes can induce harmful electric currents in technological conductor networks, such as powerlines. We have used magnetic field observations from northern Europe during 28 such events and found consistent behavior that can help to understand, and thus predict, the processes that drive auroras and geomagnetically induced currents.
Liisa Juusola, Ari Viljanen, Andrew P. Dimmock, Mirjam Kellinsalmi, Audrey Schillings, and James M. Weygand
Ann. Geophys., 41, 13–37, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-13-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-13-2023, 2023
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We have examined events during which the measured magnetic field on the ground changes very rapidly, causing a risk to technological conductor networks. According to our results, such events occur when strong electric currents in the ionosphere at 100 km altitude are abruptly modified by sudden compression or expansion of the magnetospheric magnetic field farther in space.
Konstantinos Papadakis, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Urs Ganse, Markus Battarbee, Markku Alho, Maxime Grandin, Maxime Dubart, Lucile Turc, Hongyang Zhou, Konstantinos Horaites, Ivan Zaitsev, Giulia Cozzani, Maarja Bussov, Evgeny Gordeev, Fasil Tesema, Harriet George, Jonas Suni, Vertti Tarvus, and Minna Palmroth
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7903–7912, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7903-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7903-2022, 2022
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Vlasiator is a plasma simulation code that simulates the entire near-Earth space at a global scale. As 6D simulations require enormous amounts of computational resources, Vlasiator uses adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) to lighten the computational burden. However, due to Vlasiator’s grid topology, AMR simulations suffer from grid aliasing artifacts that affect the global results. In this work, we present and evaluate the performance of a mechanism for alleviating those artifacts.
Mirjam Kellinsalmi, Ari Viljanen, Liisa Juusola, and Sebastian Käki
Ann. Geophys., 40, 545–562, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-545-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-545-2022, 2022
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Eruptions from the Sun can pose a hazard to Earth's power grids via, e.g., geomagnetically induced currents (GICs). We study magnetic measurements from Fennoscandia to find ways to understand and forecast GIC. We find that the direction of the time derivative of the magnetic field has a short
reset time, about 2 min. We conclude that this result gives insight on the current systems high in Earth’s atmosphere, which are the main driver behind the time derivative’s behavior and GIC formation.
Sebastian Käki, Ari Viljanen, Liisa Juusola, and Kirsti Kauristie
Ann. Geophys., 40, 107–119, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-107-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-107-2022, 2022
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During auroral substorms, the ionospheric electric currents change rapidly, and a large amount of energy is dissipated. We combine ionospheric current data derived from the Swarm satellite mission with the substorm database from the SuperMAG ground magnetometer network. We obtain statistics of the strength and location of the currents relative to the substorm onset. Our results show that low-earth orbit satellites give a coherent picture of the main features in the substorm current system.
Adnane Osmane, Mikko Savola, Emilia Kilpua, Hannu Koskinen, Joseph E. Borovsky, and Milla Kalliokoski
Ann. Geophys., 40, 37–53, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-37-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-37-2022, 2022
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It has long been known that particles get accelerated close to the speed of light in the near-Earth space environment. Research in the last decades has also clarified what processes and waves are responsible for the acceleration of particles. However, it is difficult to quantify the scale of the impact of various processes competing with one another. In this study we present a methodology to quantify the impact waves can have on energetic particles.
Ioannis A. Daglis, Loren C. Chang, Sergio Dasso, Nat Gopalswamy, Olga V. Khabarova, Emilia Kilpua, Ramon Lopez, Daniel Marsh, Katja Matthes, Dibyendu Nandy, Annika Seppälä, Kazuo Shiokawa, Rémi Thiéblemont, and Qiugang Zong
Ann. Geophys., 39, 1013–1035, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-1013-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-1013-2021, 2021
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We present a detailed account of the science programme PRESTO (PREdictability of the variable Solar–Terrestrial cOupling), covering the period 2020 to 2024. PRESTO was defined by a dedicated committee established by SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics). We review the current state of the art and discuss future studies required for the most effective development of solar–terrestrial physics.
Vertti Tarvus, Lucile Turc, Markus Battarbee, Jonas Suni, Xóchitl Blanco-Cano, Urs Ganse, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Markku Alho, Maxime Dubart, Maxime Grandin, Andreas Johlander, Konstantinos Papadakis, and Minna Palmroth
Ann. Geophys., 39, 911–928, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-911-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-911-2021, 2021
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We use simulations of Earth's magnetosphere and study the formation of transient wave structures in the region where the solar wind first interacts with the magnetosphere. These transients move earthward and play a part in the solar wind–magnetosphere interaction. We show that the transients are a common feature and their properties are altered as they move earthward, including an increase in temperature, decrease in solar wind speed and an alteration in their propagation properties.
Andrei Runov, Maxime Grandin, Minna Palmroth, Markus Battarbee, Urs Ganse, Heli Hietala, Sanni Hoilijoki, Emilia Kilpua, Yann Pfau-Kempf, Sergio Toledo-Redondo, Lucile Turc, and Drew Turner
Ann. Geophys., 39, 599–612, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-599-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-39-599-2021, 2021
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In collisionless systems like space plasma, particle velocity distributions contain fingerprints of ongoing physical processes. However, it is challenging to decode this information from observations. We used hybrid-Vlasov simulations to obtain ion velocity distribution functions at different locations and at different stages of the Earth's magnetosphere dynamics. The obtained distributions provide valuable examples that may be directly compared with observations by satellites in space.
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Short summary
We use a numerical simulation to study phenomena that occur between the Earth’s dipolar magnetic field and the nightside of near-Earth space. We observe the formation of large-scale vortex flows with scales of several Earth radii. On the ionospheric grid of the simulation we find that the field-aligned currents formed in the simulation reflect the vortex flow in the transition region. The main finding is that the vortex flow is a result of a combination of flow dynamics and a plasma instability.
We use a numerical simulation to study phenomena that occur between the Earth’s dipolar magnetic...
