HR: 1340h
AN: SH43A-1080    [Abstracts]
TI: Recent Results from the Voyager 1 and 2 Plasma Instruments
AU: * Ashmall, J
EM: ja@space.mit.edu
AF: M.I.T., Center for Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 United States
AU: Richardson, J D
EM: jdr@space.mit.edu
AF: M.I.T., Center for Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 United States
AB: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in 1978, are now at radial distances of 94 AU and 75 AU and continue to return data daily. The plasma (PLS) instruments onboard both spacecraft were designed and built by M.I.T. The PLS instrument on V1 ceased normal operation after the Saturn fly-by in 1980 but is still able to return ``DC Mode" current measurements integrated over all energies when fluxes are high enough. Eventually the instrument was turned off for power-sharing reasons and remained off until May 2003 when, following the controversial termination shock event at V1 in August 2002, the V1 PLS instrument was turned back on. The V2 PLS instrument is undamaged and continues to work perfectly. In this paper we introduce interpretation of the recent DC Mode data from the V1 PLS instrument. Alongside this we present V2 plasma data from the largest events of recent years, notably the 2000 Bastille day event and the Halloween events of 2003. Using V2 plasma data we are able to estimate likely DC mode readings at V1 and we compare these predictions to actual measurements. Finally, a survey of the V2 data set shows the V2 Bastille and Halloween events may be members of a new class of events observed near interplanetary shocks. The events are characterised by pulses followed by "troughs" in the plasma density, which coincide with increases in plasma temperature and magnetic field strength.
DE: 2111 Ejecta, driver gases, and magnetic clouds
DE: 2114 Energetic particles, heliospheric (7514)
DE: 2124 Heliopause and solar wind termination
DE: 2164 Solar wind plasma
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting