Geophysical Research Letters (Jul 2024)
Earth's Alfvén Wings Driven by the April 2023 Coronal Mass Ejection
- Li‐Jen Chen,
- Daniel Gershman,
- Brandon Burkholder,
- Yuxi Chen,
- Menelaos Sarantos,
- Lan Jian,
- James Drake,
- Chuanfei Dong,
- Harsha Gurram,
- Jason Shuster,
- Daniel B. Graham,
- Olivier Le Contel,
- Steven J. Schwartz,
- Stephen Fuselier,
- Hadi Madanian,
- Craig Pollock,
- Haoming Liang,
- Matthew Argall,
- Richard E. Denton,
- Rachel Rice,
- Jason Beedle,
- Kevin Genestreti,
- Akhtar Ardakani,
- Adam Stanier,
- Ari Le,
- Jonathan Ng,
- Naoki Bessho,
- Megha Pandya,
- Frederick Wilder,
- Christine Gabrielse,
- Ian Cohen,
- Hanying Wei,
- Christopher T. Russell,
- Robert Ergun,
- Roy Torbert,
- James Burch
Affiliations
- Li‐Jen Chen
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Daniel Gershman
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Brandon Burkholder
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Yuxi Chen
- Boston University Boston MA USA
- Menelaos Sarantos
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Lan Jian
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- James Drake
- University of Maryland College Park MD USA
- Chuanfei Dong
- Boston University Boston MA USA
- Harsha Gurram
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Jason Shuster
- University of New Hampshire Durham NH USA
- Daniel B. Graham
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala Sweden
- Olivier Le Contel
- CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique/Sorbonne Université/University Paris Sud/Observatoire de Paris Paris France
- Steven J. Schwartz
- The Blackett Laboratory Imperial College London London UK
- Stephen Fuselier
- Southwest Research Institute San Antonio TX USA
- Hadi Madanian
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Craig Pollock
- Denali Scientific Healy AK USA
- Haoming Liang
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Matthew Argall
- University of New Hampshire Durham NH USA
- Richard E. Denton
- Dartmouth College Hanover NH USA
- Rachel Rice
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Jason Beedle
- University of New Hampshire Durham NH USA
- Kevin Genestreti
- University of New Hampshire Durham NH USA
- Akhtar Ardakani
- University of New Hampshire Durham NH USA
- Adam Stanier
- Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USA
- Ari Le
- Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USA
- Jonathan Ng
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Naoki Bessho
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Megha Pandya
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USA
- Frederick Wilder
- University of Texas at Arlington Arlington TX USA
- Christine Gabrielse
- The Aerospace Corporation El Segundo CA USA
- Ian Cohen
- The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel MD USA
- Hanying Wei
- University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles CA USA
- Christopher T. Russell
- University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles CA USA
- Robert Ergun
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USA
- Roy Torbert
- University of New Hampshire Durham NH USA
- James Burch
- Southwest Research Institute San Antonio TX USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108894
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 51,
no. 14
pp. n/a – n/a
Abstract
Abstract We report a rare regime of Earth's magnetosphere interaction with sub‐Alfvénic solar wind in which the windsock‐like magnetosphere transforms into one with Alfvén wings. In the magnetic cloud of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on 24 April 2023, NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission distinguishes the following features: (a) unshocked and accelerated low‐beta CME plasma coming directly against Earth's dayside magnetosphere; (b) dynamical wing filaments representing new channels of magnetic connection between the magnetosphere and foot points of the Sun's erupted flux rope; (c) cold CME ions observed with energized counter‐streaming electrons, evidence of CME plasma captured due to by reconnection between magnetic‐cloud and Alfvén‐wing field lines. The reported measurements advance our knowledge of CME interaction with planetary magnetospheres, and open new opportunities to understand how sub‐Alfvénic plasma flows impact astrophysical bodies such as Mercury, moons of Jupiter, and exoplanets close to their host stars.
Keywords
- Sun‐Earth connection
- coronal mass ejection
- magnetic cloud
- Alfvén wings
- CME‐magnetosphere interaction
- planetary magnetosphere
