This paper presents observations of FTE-type flux ropes on the dayside during BepiColombo's Earth flyby. FTE-type flux ropes are a well-known feature of magnetic reconnection on the magnetopause, and they can be used to constrain the location of reconnection X-lines. Our study suggests that the magnetopause X-line passed BepiColombo from the north as it traversed the magnetopause. Moreover, our results also strongly support coalescence creating larger flux ropes by combining smaller ones.

Magnetospheric physics is in an extremely vibrant phase, with a number of ongoing and highly successful missions, e.g., Cluster, THEMIS, Van Allen Probes, and the MMS spacecraft, providing the most amazing observations and data sets. Since there are many fundamental and unsolved problems, in this paper I have addressed selected topics of ULF wave–charged particle interactions which encompass many special fields of radiation belt, ring current and plasmaspheric physics.

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.

We present a new in situ observation of energetic electrons in space obtained by a newly available particle detector. In view of the characteristic signatures in the particle flux, we attribute the observational features to the drift-resonance wave–particle interaction between energetic electrons and multiple localized ultra-low-frequency waves. The scenario is substantiated by a numerical calculation based on the revised drift-resonance theory which reproduced the observed particle signatures.

The features of ULF waves are statistically studied on the magnetotail stretched magnetic field lines (8 RE < R < 32 RE) by using 8 years of THEMIS data. The occurrence rates of ULF waves are higher in the post-midnight region than pre-midnight region. The frequency decreases with increasing radial distance of 8–16 RE and could be explained by much more standing waves in this region than in the region of 16–32 RE. The wave frequency is higher after the substorm onset than before it.