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Abstract The Van Allen Probes Electric Fields and Waves (EFW) instrument provided measurements of electric fields and spacecraft floating potentials over a wide dynamic range from DC to 6.5 kHz near the equatorial plane of the inner magnetosphere between 600 km altitude and 5.8 Re geocentric distance from October 2012 to November 2019. The two identical instruments provided data to investigate the quasi-static and low frequency fields that drive large-scale convection, waves induced by interplanetary shock impacts that result in rapid relativistic particle energization, ultra-low frequency (ULF) MHD waves which can drive radial diffusion, and higher frequency wave fields and time domain structures that provide particle pitch angle scattering and energization. In addition, measurements of the spacecraft potential provided a density estimate in cold plasmas ( $<20~\text{eV}$ < 20 eV ) from 10 to $3000~\text{cm}^{-3}$ 3000 cm − 3 . The EFW instrument provided analog electric field signals to EMFISIS for wave analysis, and it received 3d analog signals from the EMFISIS search coil sensors for inclusion in high time resolution waveform data. The electric fields and potentials were measured by current-biased spherical sensors deployed at the end of four 50 m booms in the spacecraft spin plane (spin period $\sim11~\text{sec}$ ∼ 11 sec ) and a pair of stacer booms with a total tip-tip separation of 15 m along the spin axis. Survey waveform measurements at 16 and/or 32 S/sec (with a nominal uncertainty of 0.3 mV/m over the prime mission) were available continuously while burst waveform captures at up to 16,384 S/sec provided high frequency waveforms. This post-mission paper provides the reader with information useful for accessing, understanding and using EFW data. Selected science results are discussed and used to highlight instrument capabilities. Science quantities, data quality and error sources, and analysis routines are documented. 

Inner‐magnetospheric conditions for subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) and subauroral ion drifts (SAID) have been investigated statistically using Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms and RBSP observations. We found that plasma sheet electron fluxes at its earthward edge are larger for SAID than SAPS. The ring current ion flux for SAID formed a local maximum near SAID, but the ion flux for SAID was not necessarily larger than for SAPS. The median potential drop across SAID and SAPS is nearly the same, but the potential drop for intense SAID is substantially larger than that for SAPS. The plasmapause is sharper and electromagnetic waves were more intense for SAID. The SAID velocity peak does not strongly correlate with solar wind or geomagnetic indices. These results indicate that local plasma structures are more important for SAPS/SAID velocity characteristics as compared to global magnetospheric conditions.

 

A solar eclipse is a spectacular phenomenon resulting from a Sun‐Moon alignment as viewed from the Earth. Eclipses have a great influence on the state of the ionosphere and trigger significant variations during this extraordinary event, as daytime sunlight turns to darkness and back again. Therefore, understanding how this dramatic solar‐lunar event affects the Earth's atmosphere is of enormous importance. In this study, we took advantage of the proximity of a 2 July 2019 solar eclipse to the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) in order to investigate EIA dynamics during the eclipse total obscuration as it made its first landfall over the South American continent. We found the following eclipse dynamic features (1) analogous to prior results at the EIA, a 57% enhancement of the total electron content (TEC) in the EIA crest during total obscuration in areas a few degrees to the north from totality; (2) a 35% TEC suppression along the path of totality to the south of the EIA (sub‐EIA) crest; (3) temporal and spatial extension of the southern EIA crest; (4) enhancement of the fountain effect and associated with it vertical plasma drift in the magnetic equatorial region; and (5) unusual observation of TEC bite‐out near the EIA crest prior to local eclipse onset.

 

The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region is dominated globally by dynamics at various scales: planetary waves, tides, gravity waves, and stratified turbulence. The latter two can coexist and be significant at horizontal scales less than 500 km, scales that are difficult to measure. This study presents a recently deployed multistatic specular meteor radar system, SIMONe Peru, which can be used to observe these scales. The radars are positioned at and around the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, which is located at the magnetic equator. Besides presenting preliminary results of typically reported large‐scale features, like the dominant diurnal tide at low latitudes, we show results on selected days of spatially and temporally resolved winds obtained with two methods based on: (a) estimation of mean wind and their gradients (gradient method), and (b) an inverse theory with Tikhonov regularization (regularized wind field inversion method). The gradient method allows improved MLT vertical velocities and, for the first time, low‐latitude wind field parameters such as horizontal divergence and relative vorticity. The regularized wind field inversion method allows the estimation of spatial structure within the observed area and has the potential to outperform the gradient method, in particular when more detections are available or when fine adaptive tuning of the regularization factor is done. SIMONe Peru adds important information at low latitudes to currently scarce MLT continuous observing capabilities. Results contribute to studies of the MLT dynamics at different scales inherently connected to lower atmospheric forcing and E‐region dynamo related ionospheric variability.