Coordinated studies of the geospace environment using Cluster, satellite and ground-based data: an interim reviewO. Amm1, E. F. Donovan2, H. Frey3, M. Lester4, R. Nakamura5, J. A. Wild4,*, A. Aikio6, M. Dunlop7, K. Kauristie1, A. Marchaudon8,**, I. W. McCrea7, H.-J. Opgenoorth9, and A. Strømme101Finnish Meteorological Institute, Space Research, P.O. Box 503, FIN-00101 Helsinki, Finland
2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada
3Univ. of California, Space Sci. Lab., Centennial Drive at Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450, USA
4Radio Space Plasma Physics Group, Department of Physics Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
5Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstraße 6, 8042 Graz, Austria
6University of Oulu, Department of Physical Sciences, P.O. Box 3000, FIN-90014 University of Oulu, Finland
7Space Science and Technology Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0QX, UK
8CETP/IPSL/UVSQ, 4 avenue de Neptune, 94107 Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Cedex, France
9Solar and Solar Terrestrial Missions Division, ESTEC (SCI-SH), P.O.Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
10Auroral Observatory, University of Tromsø, N-9073 Tromsø, Norway
*now at: Space Plasma Environment and Radio Sci. group, Dept. of Communication Systems, InfoLab 21, Lancaster Univ., Lancaster, LA1 4WA, UK
**now at: Mullard Space Sci. Lab., Univ. College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6NT, UK
Abstract. A little more than four years after its launch, the first magnetospheric,
multi-satellite mission Cluster has already tremendously contributed to our
understanding about the coupled solar wind - magnetosphere - ionosphere
system. This is mostly due to its ability, for the first time, to provide
instantaneous spatial views of structures in the system, to separate temporal
and spatial variations, and to derive velocities and directions of moving
structures. Ground-based data have an important complementary impact on
Cluster-related research, as they provide a larger-scale context to put the
spacecraft data in, allow to virtually enlarge the spacecrafts' field of
view, and make it possible to study in detail the coupling between the
magnetosphere and the ionosphere in a spatially extended domain. With this
paper we present an interim review of cooperative research done with Cluster
and ground-based instruments, including the support of other space-based
data. We first give a short overview of the instrumentation used, and present
some specific data analysis and modeling techniques that have been devised
for the combined analysis of Cluster and ground-based data. Then we review
highlighted results of the research using Cluster and ground-based data,
ordered into dayside and nightside processes. Such highlights include, for example,
the identification of the spatio-temporal signatures of the different modes
of reconnection on the dayside, and the detailed analysis of the
electrodynamic magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling of bursty bulk flows in the
tail plasma sheet on the nightside. The aim of this paper is to provide a
"sourcebook" for the Cluster and ground-based community that summarises the
work that has been done in this field of research, and to identify open
questions and possible directions for future studies.
Keywords. Ionosphere (Auroral ionosphere) – Magnetospheric
physics (Magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions;
General or miscellanous)
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Citation: Amm, O., Donovan, E. F., Frey, H., Lester, M., Nakamura, R., Wild, J. A., Aikio, A., Dunlop, M., Kauristie, K., Marchaudon, A., McCrea, I. W., Opgenoorth, H.-J., and Strømme, A.: Coordinated studies of the geospace environment using Cluster, satellite and ground-based data: an interim review, Ann. Geophys., 23, 2129-2170, 2005. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager