Abstract pending

Throughout the heliosphere magnetic reconnection facilitates the conversion of the energy stored in stressed magnetic fields into thermal energy, high-speed flows, and energetic particles. After first discussing the basic theory of reconnection and the role numerical simulations play in our current understanding of it, I will consider the effects of different plasma environments, including such [...]

Abstract Pending

The mechanisms by which thermal O+ escapes from the top of the ionosphere and into the magnetosphere are not fully understood even with 30 years of active research. A dynamic auroral boundary identification system has been developed using DMSP spacecraft observations at 850 km to build a database characterizing the oxygen source region. This database [...]

The vision for STEREO/SECCHI was to image solar wind phenomena continuously from their origin in the solar corona to interplanetary space. Analyzing these data is a challenge: the background star field accounts for 99.9% of the total intensity in the field of view of HI-2. However, with sophisticated post-processing techniques it is possible to separate [...]

The Cluster set of spacecraft in combination with other operating satellites are well-suited for the study of plasma sheet thinning and expansion associated with magnetospheric substorm dynamics in the Earth’s magnetotail. The Cluster orbital apogee of r=19 R_E often places the spacecraft set in a very good location to be close to the substorm neutral line (reconnection) position. [...]

It is well known that the cross-polar cap potential (CPCP) exhibits a non-linear response to the interplanetary electric field. This response is commonly referred to as CPCP “saturation”. Using plasma convection data from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), as well as statistical ionospheric conductance models, we [...]

The Saturnian magnetosphere is a rapidly rotating system populated with neutral gas from Enceladus. Neutrals are ionized and picked-up by the planetary magnetic field and, outside of 6 Rs radially transported outwards through the magnetosphere. Field-aligned currents couple the magnetospheric plasma to the ionosphere, transferring angular momentum to the magnetospheric plasma. These upward currents are [...]