ARTEMIS Probes Research Articles

Unusual Location of the Geotail Magnetopause Near Lunar Orbit: A Case Study

AbstractThe Earth's magnetopause is highly variable in location and shape and is modulated by solar wind conditions. On 8 March 2012, the ARTEMIS probes were located near the tail current sheet when an interplanetary shock arrived under northward interplanetary magnetic field conditions and recorded an abrupt tail compression at ∼(‐60, 0, ‐5) RE in Geocentric Solar Ecliptic coordinate in the deep magnetotail. Approximately 10 minutes later, the probes crossed the magnetopause many times within an hour after the oblique interplanetary shock passed by. The solar wind velocity vector downstream from the shock was not directed along the Sun‐Earth line but had a significant Y component. We propose that the compressed tail was pushed aside by the appreciable solar wind flow in the Y direction. Using a virtual spacecraft in a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation, we reproduce the sequence of magnetopause crossings in the X‐Y plane observed by ARTEMIS under oblique shock conditions, demonstrating that the compressed magnetopause is sharply deflected at lunar distances in response to the shock and solar wind VY effects. The results from two different global MHD simulations show that the shocked magnetotail at lunar distances is mainly controlled by the solar wind direction with a timescale of about a quarter hour, which appears to be consistent with the windsock effect. The results also provide some references for investigating interactions between the solar wind/magnetosheath and lunar nearside surface during full moon time intervals, which should not happen in general.

Structure and composition of the distant lunar exosphere: Constraints from ARTEMIS observations of ion acceleration in time-varying fields.

By analyzing the trajectories of ionized constituents of the lunar exosphere in time-varying electromagnetic fields, we can place constraints on the composition, structure, and dynamics of the lunar exosphere. Heavy ions travel slower than light ions in the same fields, so by observing the lag between field rotations and the response of ions from the lunar exosphere, we can place constraints on the composition of the ions. Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of Moon's Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) provides an ideal platform to utilize such an analysis, since its two-probe vantage allows precise timing of the propagation of field discontinuities in the solar wind, and its sensitive plasma instruments can detect the ion response. We demonstrate the utility of this technique by using fully time-dependent charged particle tracing to analyze several minutes of ion observations taken by the two ARTEMIS probes ~3000-5000 km above the dusk terminator on 25 January 2014. The observations from this time period allow us to reach several interesting conclusions. The ion production at altitudes of a few hundred kilometers above the sunlit surface of the Moon has an unexpectedly significant contribution from species with masses of 40 amu or greater. The inferred distribution of the neutral source population has a large scale height, suggesting that micrometeorite impact vaporization and/or sputtering play an important role in the production of neutrals from the surface. Our observations also suggest an asymmetry in ion production, consistent with either a compositional variation in neutral vapor production or a local reduction in solar wind sputtering in magnetic regions of the surface.

The effects of reflected protons on the plasma environment of the moon for parallel interplanetary magnetic fields

AbstractFor the unique case of magnetic field parallel to the solar wind flow, a column of reflected protons can accumulate upstream from the Moon. We investigate observations from the ARTEMIS probes for an extended period with this geometry. During this time, P2 observes strong wave turbulence in two frequency bands above and below the ion cyclotron frequency near the Moon, not seen by P1 farther from the Moon. The lower frequency oscillations prove consistent with kinetic magnetosonic waves resonantly generated by reflected protons, and test particle calculations confirm that a significant column of reflected protons lies upstream when the waves occur. The reflected protons perturb a large volume of plasma around the Moon, extending upstream as well as into the wake. The waves observed near the Moon during this time period have many similarities to those found in the terrestrial foreshock and at comets, suggesting the potential for comparative studies.

Plasmoid growth and expulsion revealed by two‐point ARTEMIS observations

On 12 October 2011, two ARTEMIS probes, in lunar orbit ~9 RE north of the neutral sheet, sequentially observed a tailward‐moving, expanding plasmoid. Their observations revealed a multilayered plasma sheet composed of tailward‐flowing hot plasma within the plasmoid surrounded by earthward‐flowing, less energetic plasma. Prior observations of similar earthward flows ahead of or behind plasmoids have been interpreted as earthward outflow from a continuously active distant‐tail neutral line opposite an approaching plasmoid. No evidence of active distant neutral line reconnection was observed by the probes, however, as they traversed the plasmoid's leading and trailing edges, penetrating above its core. We suggest an alternate interpretation: compression of ambient plasma by the tailward‐moving plasmoid proper propels the plasma lobeward and earthward, i.e., above and below the plasmoid proper. Using the propagation velocity obtained from timing analysis, we estimate the average plasmoid proper size in its propagation direction to be 9 RE and its expansion rate to be ~7 RE/min at the observation locations. This observation of plasmoid expansion made at the plasmoid boundary is interpreted as plasmoid growth in both the XGSM and the ZGSM directions due to near‐Earth‐neutral‐line reconnection on closed plasma sheet field lines. The velocity inside the plasmoid proper was found to be nonuniform; the core likely moves as fast as 500 km/s, yet the outer layers move more slowly (and in the reverse direction). The absence of lobe reconnection, in particular on the earthward side, suggests that plasmoid formation and expulsion both result from closed plasma sheet field‐line reconnection.

Lunar precursor effects in the solar wind and terrestrial magnetosphere

The two ARTEMIS probes observe significant precursor activity upstream from the Moon, when magnetically connected to the dayside lunar surface. The most common signature consists of high levels of whistler wave activity near half of the electron cyclotron frequency. This precursor activity extends to distances of many thousands of km, in both the solar wind and terrestrial magnetosphere. In the magnetosphere, electrons reflect from a combination of magnetic and electrostatic fields above the lunar surface, forming loss cone distributions. In the solar wind they generally form conics, as a result of reflection from an obstacle moving with respect to the plasma frame (just as at a shock). The anisotropy associated with these reflected electrons provides the free energy source for the whistlers, with cyclotron resonance conditions met between the reflected source population and Moonward‐propagating waves. These waves can in turn affect incoming plasma, and we observe significant perpendicular electron heating and plasma density depletions in some cases. In the magnetosphere, we also observe broadband electrostatic modes driven by beams of secondary electrons and/or photoelectrons accelerated outward from the surface. We also occasionally see waves near the ion cyclotron frequency in the magnetosphere. These lower frequency waves, which may result from the presence of ions of lunar origin, modulate the whistlers described above, as well as the electrons. Taken together, our observations suggest that the presence of the Moon leads to the formation of an upstream region analogous in many ways to the terrestrial electron foreshock.

A comparison of ARTEMIS observations and particle‐in‐cell modeling of the lunar photoelectron sheath in the terrestrial magnetotail

As an airless body in space with no global magnetic field, the Moon is exposed to both solar ultraviolet radiation and ambient plasmas. Photoemission from solar UV radiation and collection of ambient plasma are typically opposing charging currents and simple charging current balance predicts that the lunar dayside surface should charge positively; however, the two ARTEMIS probes have observed energy‐dependent loss cones and high‐energy, surface‐originating electron beams above the dayside lunar surface for extended periods in the magnetosphere, which are indicative of negative surface potentials. In this paper, we compare observations by the ARTEMIS P1 spacecraft with a one‐dimensional particle‐in‐cell simulation and show that the energy‐dependent loss cones and electron beams are due to the presence of stable, non‐monotonic, negative potentials above the lunar surface. The simulations also show that while the magnitude of the non‐monotonic potential is mainly driven by the incoming electron temperature, the incoming ion temperature can alter this magnitude, especially for periods in the plasma sheet when the ion temperature is more than twenty times the electron temperature. Finally, we note several other plasma phenomena associated with these non‐monotonic potentials, such as broadband electrostatic noise and electron cyclotron harmonic emissions, and offer possible generation mechanisms for these phenomena.