MMS Science opportunities for a cross-scale colinear configuration campaign
Presentation Type
Talk
Presenter Format
In Person Meeting Talk
Topic
Dayside Science
Start Date
10-5-2022 1:30 PM
Abstract
We discuss the science opportunities offered during a campaign of the MMS spacecraft in a colinear configuration. An initial colinear configuration period in February 2019 offered lessons that can guide us moving forward. This brief two-week campaign was fairly limited in scope, focusing on dayside turbulence. Despite that, it led to several new results on the structure of the solar wind, observations of bow-shock evolution, and the cross-scale characteristics of magnetosheath turbulence. Here, we examine the case of the 4 spacecraft in a quasi-log spaced linear formation, with the inter-spacecraft distance slowly varying during each mission phase. The co-linear arrangement along the orbit allows for the spacecraft to successively cross the same region. This enables us to directly measure the temporal evolution of plasma processes at those regions, such as shock reformation and active reconnection sites. Moreover, the variable alignment over time allows for cross-scale measurements of plasma structures, without being subject to the limitations of either a fixed scale tetrahedron, or single-point flow-based techniques. The proposed separations target a wide range of important spatial and temporal scales, from the MHD scales where large-scale dynamics evolve, to the kinetic scales where the bulk of dissipation and particle energization occurs. This campaign offers a unique opportunity for the science objectives of the MMS mission, including the implementation of novel multi-point techniques and new scientific results that will contribute significantly to our understanding of plasma processes in near-Earth space.
MMS Science opportunities for a cross-scale colinear configuration campaign
We discuss the science opportunities offered during a campaign of the MMS spacecraft in a colinear configuration. An initial colinear configuration period in February 2019 offered lessons that can guide us moving forward. This brief two-week campaign was fairly limited in scope, focusing on dayside turbulence. Despite that, it led to several new results on the structure of the solar wind, observations of bow-shock evolution, and the cross-scale characteristics of magnetosheath turbulence. Here, we examine the case of the 4 spacecraft in a quasi-log spaced linear formation, with the inter-spacecraft distance slowly varying during each mission phase. The co-linear arrangement along the orbit allows for the spacecraft to successively cross the same region. This enables us to directly measure the temporal evolution of plasma processes at those regions, such as shock reformation and active reconnection sites. Moreover, the variable alignment over time allows for cross-scale measurements of plasma structures, without being subject to the limitations of either a fixed scale tetrahedron, or single-point flow-based techniques. The proposed separations target a wide range of important spatial and temporal scales, from the MHD scales where large-scale dynamics evolve, to the kinetic scales where the bulk of dissipation and particle energization occurs. This campaign offers a unique opportunity for the science objectives of the MMS mission, including the implementation of novel multi-point techniques and new scientific results that will contribute significantly to our understanding of plasma processes in near-Earth space.
