Waves in the mHz frequency range are prominent features of the terrestrial magnetosphere. In this frequency range the waves have wavelengths comparable to the lengths of the geomagnetic field lines. The waves are then standing waves along closed field lines with endpoints in the southern and northern ionosphere. Waves play an important role in the distribution of energy in the magnetosphere and mHz waves can accelerate electrons to MeV energies and have been proposed as driving mechanism for auroral arcs. They can also be used as diagnostic tools for determining the plasma density. There are two important classes of these low frequency waves. One has large azimuthal wavelength and is usually associated with driving mechanisms outside the magnetosphere, such as the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the magnetopause. The other has small azimuthal wavelength and is associated with plasma instabilities inside the magnetosphere. Both types of waves are studied in this thesis with a slight emphasis on the large azimuthal wavelength waves. For the type of wave with large azimuthal wavelength there is however, a considerable debate about the driving mechanism. One recently suggested driver is coherent magnetohydrodynamic waves in the solar wind. Part of this thesis studies this experimentally and we conclude that, at least on some occasions, this driving mechanism comes into play. The Cluster satellites are used to study the morphology of the waves. We demonstrate the ability of Cluster to determine the azimuthal wave number of the waves and also how the structure along the magnetic field lines can be determined. This gives information regarding the harmonic number of the standing waves, which in turn says something about the driver of the waves. We also look at possible excitation mechanisms for the small azimuthal wavelength waves. / QC 20100707

The electrodynamic coupling between the auroral ionosphere and the magnetosphere is the main subject of this thesis. Satellite measurements of electric and magnetic fields and of charged particles are used to explore three distinct plasma boundaries, magnetically linked to the nightside auroral ionosphere. These boundaries are the inner edge of the plasma sheet (PS), and the inner and the outer edges of the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL). Strong ionospheric electric fields with amplitudes up to 400 mV/m may be observed in the subauroral ionosphere, in the vicinity of the ionospheric projection of the PS inner edge. Intense and dynamic auroral electric fields with local magnitudes up to 150 mV/m associated with upward ion beams and field-aligned currents are observed for the events treated here, at the inner and outer boundaries of the PSBL at an altitude of about 4-5 Earth radii, well above the acceleration region. Subauroral and auroral electric fields are the two main subjects of this thesis. Subauroral ion drifts (SAID) are associated with poleward electric fields, occurring predominantly in the premidnight region during the substorm recovery phase. The recently revealed abnormal subauroral ion drifts (ASAID) are associated with equatorward electric fields, occurring during extended periods of low auroral activity. The results indicate that the generation mechanism of SAID can neither be regarded as a pure voltage generator nor a pure current generator, but having certain characteristics of both generator types. Ionospheric feedback appears to play a major role for the development and maintenance of the SAID electric fields. The formation of ASAID is proposed to result from the proximity and interaction between different plasma boundaries of the innermost magnetosphere during extended periods of low auroral activity. The auroral electric fields observed in the upward current region at the PSBL inner and outer edges are associated with upward parallel electric fields, which partially decouple the high-altitude electric fields from the ionosphere. This is in contrast to the subauroral electric fields which are coupled. Multi-point measurements provided by the Cluster mission show that the observed electric fields are highly variable in space and time, revealing various types of acceleration processes. However, they appear to be tied to the boundary where they are originally formed. A case is  presented where they are associated with large electromagnetic energy fluxes directed upward away from the ionosphere. The interaction between the magnetosphere and ionosphere, being more pronounced at plasma boundary regions, is important for the understanding of the formation and regulation of the highly structured auroral electric fields observed in the upward current region. / QC 20100727

A detailed characterization of the proton and neutron induced radiation environment onboard Columbus and the International Space Station (ISS) has been carried out using the Geant4 Monte Carlo particle transport toolkit. Dose and dose equivalent rates, as well as penetrating particle spectra corresponding to incident trapped protons, GCR protons, SPE protons and cosmic ray albedo neutrons are presented. These results are based on detailed Geant4 geometry models of Columbus and ISS, comprising a total of about 750 and 350 geometry volumes, respectively. Additionally, the physics models of Geant4 have been validated with respect to space radiation shielding applications. Geant4 physics configurations based on the “Binary Cascade” and “Bertini Cascade” models of hadronic reactions were found to adequately model the particle interactions of the relevant space radiation fields. Other studied Geant4 models of hadronic reactions were found to be unsatisfactory for this application. Calculated trapped proton dose rates are found to be strongly dependent on ISS altitude. Dose rates for different locations inside the Columbus cabin are presented, as well as for different models of the incident space radiation flux. Dose rates resulting from incident anisotropic trapped protons are found to be lower, or equal to, those of omnidirectional models. The anisotropy induced by the asymmetric shielding distribution of Columbus/ISS is also studied. GCR proton dose rates are presented, and it is demonstrated that the presence of thick shielding may increase the dose rate. A possible problem using Geant4 for future studies of effects induced by high-energy GCR ions is discussed. The dose rate due to cosmic ray albedo neutrons is demonstrated to be negligible. The calculated trapped proton dose rates are 120 μGy/d and 79 μGy/d for solar minimum and maximum conditions, respectively. GCR dose rates are estimated based on calculated GCR proton dose rates to 161 μGy/d and 114 μGy/d, respectively. These dose rates are found to be compatible with experimental measurements. / QC 20110125

<p>Waves in the mHz frequency range are a prominent feature in the terrestrial magnetosphere. In this frequency range the waves have wavelengths comparable to the lengths of the geomagnetic field lines. The waves are then standing waves along closed field lines with endpoints in the southern and northern ionosphere. Waves play an important role in the distribution of energy in the magnetosphere and mHz waves can accelerate electrons to MeV energies and have been proposed as a driver of auroral arcs. They can also be used as a diagnostic tool for determining the plasma density. There are two important classes of these low frequency waves. One has large azimuthal wavelength and is usually associated with driving mechanisms outside the magnetosphere, such as the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the magnetopause. The other has small azimuthal wavelength and is associated with plasma instabilities inside the magnetosphere. Both types of waves are studied in this thesis with an emphasis on the small azimuthal wavelength waves. For the type of wave with large azimuthal wavelength there is however, a considerable debate about the driving mechanism. One recently suggested driver is coherent magnetohydrodynamic waves in the solar wind. Part of this thesis studies this experimentally and we conclude that, at least on some occasions, this driving mechanism come into play. The Cluster satellites are used to study the morphology of the waves. We demonstrate the ability of Cluster to determine the azimuthal wave number of the waves and also how the structure along the magnetic field lines can be determined. This gives information regarding the harmonic number of the standing waves, which in turn says something about the driver of the waves. We also look at possible excitation mechanisms for the small azimuthal wavelength waves.</p>

<p>A detailed characterization of the proton and neutron induced radiation environment onboard Columbus and the International Space Station (ISS) has been carried out using the Geant4 Monte Carlo particle transport toolkit. Dose and dose equivalent rates, as well as penetrating particle spectra corresponding to incident trapped protons, GCR protons, SPE protons and cosmic ray albedo neutrons are presented.</p><p>These results are based on detailed Geant4 geometry models of Columbus and ISS, comprising a total of about 750 and 350 geometry volumes, respectively. Additionally, the physics models of Geant4 have been validated with respect to space radiation shielding applications. Geant4 physics configurations based on the “Binary Cascade” and “Bertini Cascade” models of hadronic reactions were found to adequately model the particle interactions of the relevant space radiation fields. Other studied Geant4 models of hadronic reactions were found to be unsatisfactory for this application.</p><p>Calculated trapped proton dose rates are found to be strongly dependent on ISS altitude. Dose rates for different locations inside the Columbus cabin are presented, as well as for different models of the incident space radiation flux. Dose rates resulting from incident anisotropic trapped protons are found to be lower, or equal to, those of omnidirectional models. The anisotropy induced by the asymmetric shielding distribution of Columbus/ISS is also studied. GCR proton dose rates are presented, and it is demonstrated that the presence of thick shielding may increase the dose rate. A possible problem using Geant4 for future studies of effects induced by high-energy GCR ions is discussed. The dose rate due to cosmic ray albedo neutrons is demonstrated to be negligible.</p><p>The calculated trapped proton dose rates are 120 μGy/d and 79 μGy/d for solar minimum and maximum conditions, respectively. GCR dose rates are estimated based on calculated GCR proton dose rates to 161 μGy/d and 114 μGy/d, respectively. These dose rates are found to be compatible with experimental measurements.</p>

<p>Ground-based and in-situ observations of the aurora demonstrate an extreme richness in fine structure, with spatial scales down to tens of metres and time variations occurring on a fraction of a second. To further our understanding of the aurora, it is esssential to understand the mechanisms responsible for the small-scale structuring, since this is an intrinsic property of the auroral plasma. Still many questions about dynamics and structuring of aurora on small scales remain unanswered. In this thesis the low-light optical instrument ASK (Auroral Structure and Kinetics) is used to image small-scale structures in the aurora at very high spatial and temporal resolution. ASK is a multi-spectral instrument, imaging the aurora in three selected emission lines simultaneously. This provides information on the energy of the precipitating electrons. The SIF (Spectrographic Imaging Facility) instrument has been used in conjunction with ASK, to give a more complete picture of the spectral characteristics of the aurora, and to determine the contamination of the emission lines by other emissions. Data from ASK and SIF is used to study the relation between the morphology and dynamics of small-scale structures in the aurora and the energy of the precipitating electrons. By comparing electron density profiles provided by EISCAT (European Incoherent SCATter) measurements with modeling results, information on characteristic energy and energy flux of the precipitating electrons can be obtained. One of the ASK channels is imaging a metastable O+ emission, which has a lifetime of 5 s. By tracing the afterglow in this channel optically a direct measure of the E × B drift and thus of the local ionospheric electric fields is provided.</p>

This thesis deals with heating of outowing oxygen ions at high altitude above the polar cap using data from the Cluster spacecraft. oInospheric plasma may flow up from the ionosphere but at velocities which are low enough that the ions are still gravitationally bound. For the ions to overcome gravity, further acceleration is needed. The cusp/polar cap is an important source of outowing oxygen ions. In the cusp/polar cap, transverse heating is more common than eld-aligned acceleration through a magnetic eld-aligned electric eld. It is thus believed that transverse heating of ions is important for ion outow and one of the probable explanations for transverse heating is wave-particle interaction. A general conclusion from our work on high altitude oxygen ion energization is that ion energization and outow occur in the high altitude cusp and mantle. The particles are often heated perpendicularly to the geomagnetic eld and resonant heating at the gyrofrequency is most of the time intense enough to explain the observed O+ energies measured in the high altitude (8 { 15 Earth radii, RE ) cusp/mantle region of the terrestrial magnetosphere. The observed average waves can explain the observed average O+ energies. At lower altitude only a few percent of the observed spectral density around the oxygen gyrofrequency needs to be in resonance with the ions to obtain the measured O+ energies. A difference as compared to low altitude measurements is that we must assume that almost all wave activity is due to waves which can interact with the ions, and of these we assume 50 % to be left-hand polarized. We also have shown a clear correlation between temperature and wave intensity at the gyrofrequency at each measurement point. We have described the average wave intensity and corresponding velocity diffusion oeffcients as a function of altitude in a format convenient for modelers. Furthermore we have shown that the wave activity observed in this high altitude region is consistent with Alfven waves, and inconsistent with static structures drifting past the spacecraft. We have also shown how large the variability of the observed spectral densities is, and how sporadic the waves typically are. Based on three cases we have found that the regions with enhanced wave activity and increased ion temperature are typically many ion gyro radii in perpendicular extent.

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We present an analysis from MMS satellites where we detected the strongest parallel currents from their data during the months May till November 2017. The strongest parallel current in July happened 2017-07-16 at 6 o’clock. At this event we found a change in the magnetic flow density at the locations: A. Svalbard, which would have resulted in an aurora borealis if it was not for the summer light. B. Antarctic, which visibly did result in an aurora australis. By examine the source of the parallel current, we looked near the Lagrange point L1 between Earth and the Sun and could observe how the flow pressure and magnetic field changed. This motivated the investigation by looking at the sun pictures by helioviewer, where we could observe an outburst the 2017-07-14, which turned out to be the requested source of this event.