Recent Progresses of Magnetospheric Physics in China: 2010-2011

In the past two years, many progresses are made in magnetospheric physics by using either the data of Double Star Program, Cluster and THEMIS missions, or by computer simulations. This paper briefly reviews these works based on papers selected from the 80 publications from April 2010 to April 2011. The subjects covered various sub-branches of magnetospheric physics, including geomagnetic storm, magnetospheric substorm, etc.      

Magnetospheric Physics in China:2014—2015

In the past two years, much progress is made in magnetospheric physics by using the data of Double Star Program, Cluster, THEMIS, RBSP, Swarm missions etc., or by computer simulations. This paper briefly reviews these works based on papers selected from the 191 publications from January 2014 to December 2015. The subjects cover various sub-branches of magnetospheric physics, including geomagnetic storm, magnetospheric substorm, magnetic reconnection, solar windmagnetosphere-ionosphere interaction, radiation belt, outer magnetosphere, magnetotail, plasmasphere, geomagnetic field, auroras and currents.      

Magnetospheric Physics in China

In the past two years, much progress has been made in magnetospheric physics by using the data of Double Star Program, Cluster, THEMIS, RBSP, Swarm, MMS, ARTEMIS, MESSENGER missions etc., or by computer simulations. This paper briefly reviews these works based on papers selected from the 227 publications from January 2016 to December 2017. The subjects cover most sub-branches of magnetospheric physics, including geomagnetic storm, magnetospheric substorm, magnetic reconnection, solar wind-magnetosphereionosphere interaction, radiation belt, plasmasphere, outer magnetosphere, magnetotail, geomagnetic field, auroras, and currents.      

Scientific progress of combined exploration DSP and Cluster: 2008—2010

The combined observations of Double Star and Cluster missions allow for, for the first time, six-point measurements of the main plasma parameters in the key scientific regions of the near-Earth environment. In the past two years, a great number of works were made based on the data from DSP and Cluster missions, advancing remarkably the research of magnetospheric physics in China. This paper briefly reviews these important scientific results based on 51 selected publications.      

Magnetospheric Physics in China

In the past two years, many progresses were made in Magnetospheric Physics by using the data of SuperMAG, Double Star Program, Cluster, THEMIS, RBSP, DMSP, DEMETER, NOAA, Van Allen probe, Swarm, MMS, ARTEMIS, MESSENGER, Fengyun, BeiDa etc., or by computer simulations. This paper briefly reviews these works based on papers selected from the 248 publications from January 2018 to December 2019. The subjects covered various sub-branches of Magnetospheric Physics, including geomagnetic storm, magnetospheric substorm, magnetic reconnection, solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction, radiation belt, ring current, whistler waves, plasmasphere, outer magnetosphere, magnetotail, planetary magnetosphere, and technique.      

Multi-Scale Physical Process in the Magnetosphere

The brief report presents a part of the research results of the magnetospheric physics researches in China during the period of 2006--2008.During the past two years,China-ESA cooperation DSP(Double Star Program)satellites were basically operating normally in its extended lifetime.The DSP and Cluster missions provide Chinese space physicists high quality data to study multi-scale physical process in the magnetosphere.The work made based on the data of DSP is presented in the paper of"Progress of Double Star Program"of this issue.      

Science Research of Microgravity Satellite SJ-10

The program SJ-10, one of the scientific satellite programs in the Strategic Priority Research Program on Space Science, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was launched on April 6, 2016. There are totally 19 scientific payloads, a multi-function furnace for 8 material researches and three-dimensional cell cultures for the neural stem cell and the hematopoietic stem cell respectively. The recoverable satellite consists mainly of two capsules:a recoverable capsule was recovered on 18 April 2016, with all payloads of life science, the multi-function furnace and the payload for measurement of Soret Coefficients of Crude Oil (SCCO); and an un-recoverable capsule continued to work in additional 3 days with all other physics payloads. The experiments were operated via teleoperations, and all experimental data were received by the ground station in real time. The data and recoverable samples are analyzed by the experiment teams of the program.      

Research Progress of Solar Corona and Interplanetary Physics in China: 2010-2012

The scientific objective of solar corona and interplanetary research is the understanding of the various phenomena related to solar activities and their effects on the space environments of the Earth. Great progress has been made in the study of solar corona and interplanetary physics by the Chinese space physics community during the past years. This paper will give a brief report about the latest progress of the corona and interplanetary research in China during the years of 2010?2012. The paper can be divided into the following parts: solar corona and solar wind, CMEICME, magnetic reconnection, energetic particles, space plasma, space weather numerical modeling by 3D SIP-CESE MHD model, space weather prediction methods, and proposed missions. They constitute the abundant content of study for the complicated phenomena that originate from the solar corona, propagate in interplanetary space, and produce geomagnetic disturbances. All these progresses are acquired by the Chinese space physicists, either independently or through international collaborations.      

Pc5 Oscillation Analysis by the Satellite and Ground-Based Data

Large amplitude Pc5 event was observed in the space and on ground on August 3, 2001, about three hours after contact of the strong discontinuity in the solar wind with the magnetosphere according to data from ACE and Wind satellites. The Pc5 amplitude was as high as 15 nT in the tail of magnetosphere and about 5 nT at the ground based stations. In the magnetosphere Pc5 waves were observed by Cluster and Polar satellites, which occupied positions in the morning part of the near tail at the close field lines but were parted by distance of 11.5 Re, mainly along the x-axis of the GSM coordinate system. Both compressional and transverse components of the Pc5 wave activity were observed in the space, with the transverse component having the larger amplitude. Time delay between the Cluster and Polar satellites was about 8 minutes, which could be interpreted as a wave propagation from the geomagnetic tail to the Earth with the 150 km/s group velocity. The ground-based Pc5 activity was analysed by using data from the Image magnetometer network. Doubtless demonstrations of a field line resonant structure were found in variations of amplitude and polarization with latitude. Finnish chain of search coil magnetometers observed modulated Pc1 emission simultaneously with the Pc5 wave train. A possibility of non-linear impact of Pc5 wave energy on the plasma and waves in the magnetosphere is discussed.     

Magnetospheric Boundary Layer Structure and Dynamics as Seen From Cluster and Double Star Measurements

In this review, we discuss the structure and dynamics of the magnetospheric Low-Latitude Boundary Layer (LLBL) based on recent results from multi-satellite missions Cluster and Double Star. This boundary layer, adjacent to the magnetopause on the magnetospheric side, usually consists of a mixture of plasma of magnetospheric and magnetosheath origins, and plays an important role in the transfer of mass and energy from the solar wind into the magnetosphere and subsequent magnetospheric dynamics. During southward Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) conditions, this boundary layer is generally considered to be formed as a result of the reconnection process between the IMF and magnetospheric magnetic field lines at the dayside magnetopause, and the structure and plasma properties inside the LLBL can be understood in terms of the time history since the reconnection process. During northward IMF conditions, the LLBL is usually thicker, and has more complex structure and topology. Recent observations confirm that the LLBL observed at the dayside can be formed by single lobe reconnection, dual lobe reconnection, or by sequential dual lobe reconnection, as well as partially by localized cross-field diffusion. The LLBL magnetic topology and plasma signatures inside the different sub-layers formed by these processes are discussed in this review. The role of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the formation of the LLBL at the flank magnetopause is also discussed. Overall, we conclude that the LLBL observed at the flanks can be formed by the combination of processes, (dual) lobe reconnection and plasma mixing due to non-linear Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.      

Magnetospheric Physics in China: 2012–2014

In the past two years, many progresses have been made in magnetospheric physics by using the data of Double Star Program, Cluster, THEMIS and RBSP missions, or by computer simulations. This paper briefly reviews these works based on papers selected from the 126 publications from March 2012 to March 2014. The subjects cover various sub-branches of magnetospheric physics,including geomagnetic storm, magnetospheric substorm and magnetic reconnection.     

The role of scientific ballooning for exploration of the magnetosphere

The magnetosphere is explored in situ by satellites, but measurements near the low altitude magnetospheric boundary by rockets, balloons and groundbased instruments play a very significant role. The geomagnetic field provides a frame with anisotropic wave and particle propagation effects, enabling remote sensing of the distant magnetosphere by means of balloon-borne and groundbased instruments. Examples will be given of successful studies, with coordinated satellite and balloon observations, of substorm, pulsation and other phenomena propagating both along and across the geomagnetic field. Continued efforts with sophisticated balloon-borne instrumentations should contribute substantially to our understanding of magnetospheric physics.     

Magnetospheric Physics in China During the Period of 2004 - 2006

Their brief report presents the advances of the magnetospheric physics researches in China during the period of 2004-2006. During the past two years, China-ESA cooperation DSP (Double Star Program) satellites were successively launched. In addition, China also participated in the scientific research of ESA's Cluster mission. The DSP and Cluster missions provide Chinese space physicists high quality data to study multiscale physical process in the magnetosphere. The work made based on the data of DSP is presented in the paper of "Progress of Double Star Program" of this issue.     

An empirical model of the plasma environment around Mercury

Since the flyby observations by Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975, Mercury has been one of the most interesting objects for space physics and planetary exploration. The MESSENGER and BepiColombo missions now plan to revisit this planet. In order to design plasma instruments for the BepiColombo mission, we have estimated electron and ion fluxes around Mercury with an empirical model, which has been developed for the Earth’s magnetotail. The solar wind data needed as input parameters are derived from Helios observations. The result shows that our predicted electron fluxes at aphelion agree well with the Mariner-10 data. It is also noted that ion instruments must cover a very wide dynamic range of proton fluxes. However, the applicability of the Earth’s magnetospheric model to Mercury is, in itself, an important issue for comparative magnetospheric studies.