[1] Large-amplitude (up to $50 mV/m) solitary waves, identified as electron holes, have been observed during waveform captures on two of the four Cluster satellites during several plasma sheet encounters that have been identified as the passage of a magnetotail reconnection x line. The electron holes were seen near the outer edge of the plasma sheet, within and on the edge of a density cavity, at distances on the order of a few ion inertial lengths from the center of the current sheet. The electron holes occur during intervals when there were narrow electron beams but not when the distributions were more isotropic or contained beams that were broad in pitch angle. The region containing the narrow beams (and therefore the electron holes) can extend over thousands of kilometers in the x and y directions, but is very narrow in the z direction. The association with electron beams and the density cavity and the location along the separatrices are consistent with simulations shown herein. The velocities and scale sizes of the electron holes are consistent with the predictions of Drake et al. [2003]. Particle simulations of magnetic reconnection reproduce the observed Cluster data only with the addition of a small (0.2 of the reversed field) ambient guide field. The results suggest that electron holes may sometimes be an intrinsic feature of magnetotail reconnection and that in such cases the traditional neglect of the guide field may not be justified. Very large amplitude lower hybrid waves (hundreds of millivolts per meter), as well as waves at frequencies up to the electron plasma frequency, were also observed during this interval.

[1] On 21-22 March 2001, four cusp-like regions were observed consecutively in about five hours by all four Cluster spacecraft when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) was northward with a significant B y component. All four cusp-like encounters were characterized by turbulent magnetic fields, high-density plasma, and plasma flow significantly slower than the magnetosheath level. The cusp-like regions are associated with thermalized, bidirectional distributed plasma electrons. The first encountered cusp is the main cusp; the other three cusp-like regions are temporal effects. The normal velocities v n at boundary interfaces (exit from the cusp) are found to be almost three times larger than that at boundary interfaces (entry into the cusp). The boundary normal, velocity, and timing analysis for six clear boundaries of the last three cusps obtained by all four spacecraft indicates that they are most likely one boundary shifting in the dawn-dusk direction between the dayside magnetosphere/trapping region and the cusp region. So the Cluster spacecraft have been observing the same cusp, and it appeared as four cusp-like regions due to possible magnetospheric oscillations. Oscillations with a period of 22 min are observed by the Cluster spacecraft in the high-latitude region, which is in agreement with the cold-dense plasma sheet fluctuations (20 min period) observed by the Geotail satellite. Multiple cusps observed by Cluster and the wavy-like structures in the dusk low-latitude boundary layer observed by Geotail simultaneously suggest the whole magnetosphere is oscillating during northward IMF.Citation: Zong, Q. -G., et al. (2008), Multiple cusps during an extended northward IMF period with a significant B y component,

Abstract. The miniature electron and ion spectrometer MEDUSA on Astrid-2 consists of two "top-hat"-type spherical electrostatic analyzers, sharing a common top-hat. Fast energy sweeps (16 electron sweeps and 8 ion sweeps per second) allow for very high temporal resolution measurements of a two-dimensional slice of the particle distribution function. The energy range covered, is in the case of electrons, 4 eV to 22 keV and, in the case of ions, 2 eV to 12 keV. MEDUSA is mounted with its aperture close to the spin plane of Astrid-2, which allows for good pitch-angle coverage when the local magnetic field is in the satellite spin plane. The PIA-1/2 spin-scanning ultraviolet photometers measure auroral emissions. Using the spacecraft spin and orbital motion, it is possible to create two-dimensional images from the data. Spin-scanning photometers, such as PIA, are low-cost, low mass alternatives to auroral imagers, but place constraints on the satellite attitude. Data from MEDUSA are used to study processes in the auroral region, in particular, electrodynamics of aurora and "black aurora". MEDUSA is also a technological development, paving the way for highly capable, miniaturized particle spectrometers.

Abstract. The "cusp proper" is generally understood to be the region enclosed by the outermost magnetospheric field lines as they map to low altitudes. It is therefore a weak-field region with continuous contact with magnetosheath plasma. Data from the recent Astrid-2 Swedish microsatellite are presented which show a new, unique signature (dubbed the "true cusp") during cusp crossings that can now be shown to be consistently present and with which one can redefine the physical meaning and topology of the cusp. Similar crossings made by the DE-2, UARS and DMSP-F10 satellites also show this same, unique signature although in most cases the spatial resolution was much less than that of the Astrid-2 MEDUSA spectrometer. The presence of concurrent features of the same scale size as the plasma in the energetic particle, field and wave power data shows that this is a real structural feature and not a coincidental structure among plasma instruments. The persistence of this feature may lend new insight into the dynamics of the cusp and magnetospheric particle entry.

Abstract.Observations of a unique cusp feature at low and mid altitudes are reported. This feature has a consistent structure at the equatorward edge of high-latitude particle precipitation and is predominantly present for high IMF By conditions. The observations are consistent with the Crooker antiparallel merging model, which predicts a narrow wedge-shaped cusp whose geometry depends greatly on the dawn/dusk component of the IMF. Various observations are presented at low altitudes (DE-2, Astrid-2, Munin, UARS, DMSP) and at mid altitudes (DE-1, Cluster) that suggest a highly coherent cusp feature that is consistent with the narrow, wedgeshaped cusp of Crooker and contains persistent wave signatures that are compatible with previously reported high-altitude measurements. A statistical survey of Astrid-2 and DMSP satellite data is also presented that shows this feature to be persistent and dependent on the IMF angle at the magnetopause, as expected. Thus, the cusp signatures observed at a wide range of altitudes present a coherent picture that may be interpreted in terms of a footprint of the magnetopause current layer.