Articles | Volume 44, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-937-2026
© 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-44-937-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Regular paper
| 
17 Sep 2026
Regular paper |
| 17 Sep 2026
| 17 Sep 2026
Flying through the plasmasphere to optimize low-energy ion measurements
Gabriella Stenberg Wieser
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Martin Wieser
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Stas Barabash
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Philipp Wittmann
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Leif Kalla
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Markus Fränz
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Elias Roussos
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Audrey Vorburger
Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Peter Wurz
Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Jan-Erik Wahlund
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Uppsala, Sweden
Pontus C. Brandt
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Yoshifumi Futaana
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Manabu Shimoyama
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Angèle Pontoni
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
André Galli
Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Andreas Riedo
Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
George Ho
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Donald G. Mitchell
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
George Clark
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Peter Kollmann
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Malamati Gkioulidou
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Leonardo Regoli
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Norbert Krupp
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Kazushi Asamura
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan
Esa Kallio
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Andrea Opitz
Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Budapest, Hungary
Manuel Grande
Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom
Andrew Coates
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College, London, United Kingdom
Geraint Jones
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College, London, United Kingdom
Theodoros Sarris
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece
Andrey Fedorov
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNES-CNRS-Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Nicolas André
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNES-CNRS-Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO), Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
Ján Baláž
Institute of Experimental Physics SAS, Košice, Slovak Republic
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The Sun ejects a stream of charged particles into space that have to flow around planets like Venus. We quantify how this flow varies with spatial location using spacecraft measurements of the particles and magnetic field taken over several years. We find that this flow is connected to interactions with the heavier charged particles that originate from Venus’ upper atmosphere. These interactions are not unique to Venus, so we compare our results to similar studies at Mars.
Joachim Vogt, Octav Marghitu, Adrian Blagau, Leonie Pick, Nele Stachlys, Stephan Buchert, Theodoros Sarris, Stelios Tourgaidis, Thanasis Balafoutis, Dimitrios Baloukidis, and Panagiotis Pirnaris
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Motivated by recent community interest in a satellite mission to the atmospheric lower thermosphere and ionosphere (LTI) region (100–200 km altitude), the DIPCont project is concerned with the reconstruction quality of vertical profiles of key LTI variables using dual- and single-spacecraft observations. The report introduces the probabilistic DIPCont modeling framework, demonstrates its usage by means of a set of self-consistent parametric non-isothermal models, and discusses first results.
Martin Volwerk, Cyril Simon Wedlund, David Mautner, Sebastián Rojas Mata, Gabriella Stenberg Wieser, Yoshifumi Futaana, Christian Mazelle, Diana Rojas-Castillo, César Bertucci, and Magda Delva
Ann. Geophys., 41, 389–408, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-389-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-389-2023, 2023
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Freshly created ions in solar wind start gyrating around the interplanetary magnetic field. When they cross the bow shock, they get an extra kick, and this increases the plasma pressure against the magnetic pressure. This leads to the creation of so-called mirror modes, regions where the magnetic field decreases in strength and the plasma density increases. These structures help in exploring how energy is transferred from the ions to the magnetic field and where around Venus this is happening.
Panagiotis Pirnaris and Theodoros Sarris
Ann. Geophys., 41, 339–354, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-339-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-339-2023, 2023
Short summary
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The relation between electron, ion and neutral temperatures in the lower thermosphere–ionosphere (LTI) is key to understanding the energy balance and transfer between species. However, their simultaneous measurement is rare in the LTI. Based on data from the AE-C, AE-D, AE-E and DE-2 satellites of the 1970s and 1980s, a large number of events where neutrals are hotter than ions are identified and statistically analyzed. Potential mechanisms that could trigger these events are proposed.
Cyril Simon Wedlund, Martin Volwerk, Christian Mazelle, Sebastián Rojas Mata, Gabriella Stenberg Wieser, Yoshifumi Futaana, Jasper Halekas, Diana Rojas-Castillo, César Bertucci, and Jared Espley
Ann. Geophys., 41, 225–251, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-225-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-225-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Mirror modes are magnetic bottles found in the space plasma environment of planets contributing to the energy exchange with the solar wind. We use magnetic field measurements from the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission to detect them around Mars and show how they evolve in time and space. The structures concentrate in two regions: one behind the bow shock and the other closer to the planet. They compete with other wave modes depending on the solar flux and heliocentric distance.
Brady P. Strabel, Leonardo H. Regoli, Mark B. Moldwin, Lauro V. Ojeda, Yining Shi, Jacob D. Thoma, Isaac S. Narrett, Bret Bronner, and Matthew Pellioni
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 375–388, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-375-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-375-2022, 2022
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The design, characteristics, and performance of a CubeSat magnetometer board (Quad-Mag) equipped with four PNI RM3100 magnetometers is presented. The inclusion of four sensors allows a potential factor of 2 reduction in the noise floor established for an individual sensor via oversampling with multiple sensors. The Quad-Mag is shown to enable 1 nT magnetic field measurements at 1 Hz and 5.345 nT at 65 Hz using commercial off-the-shelf sensors for space applications.
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Short summary
We used Juice flyby of Earth in August 2024 to evaluate the performance of the Jovian Plasma Dynamics and Composition analyzer (JDC). JDC measures positive and negative ions as well as electrons. When Juice arrives at Jupiter, one of the most challenging tasks for JDC is to record low energy ion populations. We used the data JDC recorded close to Earth, together with measurement in the laboratory on ground, to improve the future observations the sensor will make around Jupiter’s icy moons.
We used Juice flyby of Earth in August 2024 to evaluate the performance of the Jovian Plasma...
