Recently, small-scale pressure-balanced structures (PBSs) were identified in the solar wind, but their formation mechanism remains unclear. This work aims to reveal the dependence of the properties of small-scale PBSs on the background magnetic field (B 0) direction and thus to corroborate the in situ mechanism that forms them. We analyze the plasma and magnetic field data obtained by WIND in the quiet solar wind at 1 AU. First, we use a developed moving-average method to obtain B 0(s, t) for every temporal scale (s) at each time moment (t). By wavelet cross-coherence analysis, we obtain the correlation coefficients between the thermal pressure P th and the magnetic pressure P B, distributing against the temporal scale and the angle θxB between B 0(s, t) and Geocentric Solar Ecliptic coordinates (GSE)-x. We note that the angle coverage of a PBS decreases with shorter temporal scale, but the occurrence of the PBSs is independent of θxB. Suspecting that the isolated small PBSs are formed by compressive waves in situ, we continue this study by testing the wave modes forming a small-scale PBS with B 0(s, t) quasi-parallel to GSE-x. As a result, we identify that the cross-helicity and the compressibility attain values for a slow mode from theoretical calculations. The wave vector is derived from minimum variance analysis. Besides, the proton temperatures obey T ⊥ < T ∥ derived from the velocity distribution functions, excluding a mirror mode, which is the other candidate for the formation of PBSs in situ. Thus, a small-scale PBS is shown to be driven by oblique, slow-mode waves in the solar wind.

In particular during the descending phase of the solar cycle, Alfvén waves in the high-speed solar wind streams are a major form of interplanetary disturbances. The fluctuating southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) of Alfvén waves has been suggested to induce geomagnetic activities through intermittent magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause. In this study, we provide in situ observational evidence for dayside magnetopause reconnection induced by such interplanetary Alfvén waves. Using multipoint conjunction observations, we show that the IMF B _z from interplanetary Alfvén waves is transmitted through and amplified by the Earth’s bow shock. Associated with the intensified southward B _z to the magnetopause, in situ signatures of magnetic reconnection are detected. Repetitively, interplanetary Alfvén waves transmit the intensified B _z to the magnetosheath, leading to intervals of large magnetic shear angles across the magnetopause and magnetopause reconnection. Such intervals are promptly followed by hundreds of nanoTesla (nT) increases in the auroral electrojet indices (AE and AU) within 10–20 minutes. These observations are confirmed in multiple events in corotating interaction region-driven geomagnetic storms. To put the observations into context, we propose a phenomenological model of a strongly driven substorm. The substorm electrojet is linked to the enhanced magnetopause reconnection in the short timescale of re-establishing the ionosphere electric field and the two-cell convection. These results provide insights on the temporal patterns of solar wind magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling, especially during the descending phase of the solar cycle.

Recently, small-scale pressure-balanced structures (PBSs) have been studied with regard to their dependence on the direction of the local mean magnetic field B0 . The present work continues these studies by investigating the compressive wave mode forming small PBSs, here for B0 quasi-perpendicular to the x-axis of Geocentric Solar Ecliptic coordinates (GSE-x). All the data used were measured by WIND in the quiet solar wind. From the distribution of PBSs on the plane determined by the temporal scale and angle θxB between the GSE-x and B0 , we notice that at θxB = 115° the PBSs appear at temporal scales ranging from 700 s to 60 s. In the corresponding temporal segment, the correlations between the plasma thermal pressure P th and the magnetic pressure P B, as well as that between the proton density N p and the magnetic field strength B, are investigated. In addition, we use the proton velocity distribution functions to calculate the proton temperatures T ⊥ and T ∥. Minimum Variance Analysis is applied to find the magnetic field minimum variance vector BN . We also study the time variation of the cross-helicity σc and the compressibility C p and compare these with values from numerical predictions for the mirror mode. In this way, we finally identify a short segment that has T ⊥ > T ∥, proton β 1, both pairs of P th-P B and N p-B showing anti-correlation, and σc 0 with C p > 0. Although the examination of σc and C p is not conclusive, it provides helpful additional information for the wave mode identification. Additionally, BN is found to be highly oblique to B0 . Thus, this work suggests that a candidate mechanism for forming small-scale PBSs in the quiet solar wind is due to mirror-mode waves.

Solar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) waves generally refer to large-scale disturbances propagating outward from sites of solar eruptions in EUV imaging observations. Using the recent observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we report a quasiperiodic wave train propagating outward at an average speed of ∼308 km s⁻¹. At least five wave fronts can be clearly identified with the period being ∼120 s. These wave fronts originate from the coronal loop expansion, which propagates with an apparent speed of ∼95 km s⁻¹, about 3 times slower than the wave train. In the absence of a strong lateral expansion, these observational results might be explained by the theoretical model of Chen et al., which predicted that EUV waves may have two components: a faster component that is a fast-mode magnetoacoustic wave or shock wave and a slower apparent front formed as a result of successive stretching of closed magnetic field lines. In this scenario, the wave train and the successive loop expansion we observed likely correspond to the fast and slow components in the model, respectively.

Solar wind protons undergo significant heating during the expansion of the solar wind and turbulence plays an important role in this process. It is believed that the energy is injected from the energy-containing range into the inertial range and then transferred to dissipate into heat eventually. However, the energy injection process in the heliosphere remains unclear. Here we analyze this process. We utilize Helios 2 and Ulysses measurements of the fast solar wind at different radial distances from 0.29 to 4.8 au. We obtain the perpendicular heating rate based on the gradient of the magnetic moment. We estimate for the first time the energy supply rate due to the sweeping of low-frequency break based on the identification of low-frequency break and the corresponding power spectra density profile. We find that the energy supply rate is comparable to the perpendicular heating rate of protons, which support the idea that low-frequency range becomes part of the inertial range as the solar wind turbulence ages. These results help us understand the energy supply process from the energy-containing range and the heating process of solar wind protons.

Using multipoint observations over 10 yr near 1 au, we investigate the spectra (5 minutes to 2 hr) of interplanetary Alfvén waves and the responses in the geomagnetic activities. We compute the two-point correlations of the wave magnetic field between the ACE and the THEMIS spacecraft, which are separated by ∼200 Earth radius (R _E) in the solar wind. Alfvén waves associated with high two-point correlations exhibit steep spectra (spectra index ∼−1.63). Such Alfvén waves occur mostly in slow-speed streams. By contrast, Alfvén waves with low two-point correlations exhibit flatter spectra (spectra index ∼−1.51) with a relative enhancement of power above 2 × 10⁻⁴ Hz. The occurrence of Alfvén waves with low two-point correlations is more equally distributed between high-speed and low-speed streams. In general, interplanetary Alfvén waves show correlations with moderate geomagnetic responses in symmetric ring-current intensity, SuperMAG electrojet (SME), and Kp indices. Statistical analyses indicate that the Alfvén waves with flat spectra correspond to stronger responses in the geomagnetic indices than those with steep spectra, suggesting the importance of the tens of minutes (30–90 minutes) Alfvénic power spectra in the generation of SME/Auroral Electrojets. These observations may shed light on the response of the magnetosphere to fluctuating interplanetary magnetic field B _z .