CLUSTER Particle Observations

Details CLUSTER Particle Observations CLUSTER Particle Observations

Dec 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufmsm11d..10r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #SM11D-10

Physics

2164 Solar Wind Plasma, 2700 Magnetospheric Physics

Scientific paper

On board the 4 Cluster spacecraft, there is a full set of instruments to measure the distribution functions of the particles (ions and electrons) from the thermal energies up to MeV particles. The Cluster Ion Spectrometry (CIS) experiment employs two different sensors (CODIF and HIA) to obtain the full three-dimensional ion distribution of the major species with high time resolution and mass per charge plasma composition in the energy range 0-40 keV/q. Specific features of CIS are: - the double sensitivity of each of the sensors, which allows the precise measurement of the large flux of ion beams in the solar wind as well as the low flux of ions in the lobes of the magnetosphere. - the use of a Retarding Potential Analyzer on CODIF to make more accurate measurements below 15 eV/q. The very good status of the spacecraft and of the experiments, the full set of particle and wave instruments, the adaptable inter-spacecraft distances, which can vary between 200 and 18,000 km, give an extraordinary tool to study our ionised environment and its interaction with the solar wind. For the first time temporal and spatial variations can be separated. To give an overview of the capabilities of the CIS experiment several examples showing the high level performances and capabilities of the instrument will be presented for some very important regions and boundaries: Magnetopause and bow shock crossings, solar wind, cusps, boundary layers, central plasma sheet, auroral region, plasmasphere, etc. Coordinated measurements with ground based instruments are also extremely promising. These results show the tremendous interest of multispacecraft measurements with identical instruments and open a new area in magnetospheric and solar wind-magnetosphere interaction physics.

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