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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Space Physics
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspas.2024.1430099
This article is part of the Research Topic Past, Present and Future Of Multispacecraft Measurements For Space Physics View all 7 articles

Crucial Future Observations and Directions for Unveiling Magnetopause Dynamics and their Geospace Impacts

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
  • 2 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
  • 3 National Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), Boulder, Colorado, United States
  • 4 Lancaster University, Lancaster, England, United Kingdom
  • 5 Space Science Institute (SSI), Boulder, Colorado, United States
  • 6 University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 7 University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  • 8 Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, United States
  • 9 The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The dynamics of Earth's magnetopause, driven by several different external/internal physical processes, plays a major role in the geospace energy budget. Given magnetopause motion couples across many space plasma regions, numerous forms of observations may provide valuable information in understanding these dynamics and their impacts. \textit{In-situ} multi-point spacecraft measurements measure the local plasma environment, dynamics and processes; with upcoming swarms providing the possibility of improved spatiotemporal reconstruction of dynamical phenomena, and multi-mission conjunctions advancing understanding of the ``mesoscale'' coupling across the geospace ``system of systems''. Soft X-ray imaging of the magnetopause should enable boundary motion to be directly remote sensed for the first time. Indirect remote sensing capabilities might be enabled through the field-aligned currents associated with disturbances to the magnetopause; by harnessing data from satellite mega-constellations in low-Earth orbit, and taking advantage of upgraded auroral imaging and ionospheric radar technology. Finally, increased numbers of closely-spaced ground magnetometers in both hemispheres may help discriminate between high-latitude processes in what has previously been a ``zone of confusion''. Bringing together these multiple modes of observations for studying magnetopause dynamics is crucial. These may also be aided by advanced data processing techniques, such as physics-based inversions and machine learning methods, along with comparisons to increasingly sophisticated geospace assimilative models and simulations.

    Keywords: Magnetopause, surface waves, MHD waves, auroral ionosphere, field-aligned currents, Ground, Instruments, techniques

    Received: 09 May 2024; Accepted: 22 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Archer, Shi, Walach, Hartinger, Gillies, Di Matteo, Staples and Nykyri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Martin Archer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.