The European Space Agency's three Swarm satellites were launched on 22 November 2013 into nearly polar, circular orbits, eventually reaching altitudes of 460 km (Swarm A and C) and 510 km (Swarm B). Swarm's multiyear mission is to make precision, multipoint measurements of low‐frequency magnetic and electric fields in Earth's ionosphere for the purpose of characterizing magnetic fields generated both inside and external to the Earth, along with the electric fields and other plasma parameters associated with electric current systems in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Electric fields perpendicular to the magnetic field trueB→ are determined through ion drift velocity truev→i and magnetic field measurements via the relation trueE→⊥=−truev→i×trueB→. Ion drift is derived from two‐dimensional images of low‐energy ion distribution functions provided by two Thermal Ion Imager (TII) sensors viewing in the horizontal and vertical planes; truev→i is corrected for spacecraft potential as determined by two Langmuir probes (LPs) which also measure plasma density ne and electron temperature Te. The TII sensors use a microchannel‐plate‐intensified phosphor screen imaged by a charge‐coupled device to generate high‐resolution distribution images (66 × 40 pixels) at a rate of 16 s−1. Images are partially processed on board and further on the ground to generate calibrated data products at a rate of 2 s−1; these include truev→i, trueE→⊥, and ion temperature Ti in addition to electron temperature Te and plasma density ne from the LPs.

In this study we calibrate and validate in situ ionospheric electron density (Ne) and temperature (Te) measured with Langmuir probes (LPs) on the three Swarm satellites orbiting the Earth in circular, nearly polar orbits at ~500 km altitude. We assess the accuracy and reliability of the LP data (December 2013 to June 2016) by using nearly coincident measurements from low‐ and middle‐latitude incoherent scatter radars (ISRs), low‐latitude ionosondes, and Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) satellites, covering all latitudes. The comparison results for plasma frequency ( f∝Ne) for each Swarm satellite are consistent across these three, principally different measurement techniques. It shows that the Swarm LPs systematically underestimate plasma frequency by about 10% (0.5–0.6 MHz). The correlation coefficients are high (≥0.97), indicating accurate relative variation in the Swarm LP densities. The comparison of Te from high‐gain LPs and those from ISRs reveals that all three satellites overestimate it by 300–400 K but exhibit high correlations (0.92–0.97) against the validation data. The low‐gain LP Te data show larger overestimation (~700 K) and lower correlation (0.86–0.90). The adjustment of the Swarm LP data based on Swarm‐ISR comparison results removes the systematic biases in the Swarm data and gives plasma frequencies and high‐ and low‐gain electron temperatures that are precise within about 0.4 MHz (8%), 150–230 K, and 260–360 K, respectively. We demonstrate that the applied correction significantly improves the agreement between (1) the plasma densities from Swarm, and from ionosondes and COSMIC, and (2) the Te from Swarm LPs and International Reference Ionosphere 2016.

High‐resolution in situ measurements from the three Swarm spacecraft, in a string‐of‐pearls configuration, provide new insights about the combined role of flow channel events and particle impact ionization in creating F region electron density structures in the northern Scandinavian dayside cusp. We present a case of polar cap patch formation where a reconnection‐driven low‐density relative westward flow channel is eroding the dayside solar‐ionized plasma but where particle impact ionization in the cusp dominates the initial plasma structuring. In the cusp, density features are observed which are twice as dense as the solar‐ionized background. These features then follow the polar cap convection and become less structured and lower in amplitude. These are the first in situ observations tracking polar cap patch evolution from creation by plasma transport and enhancement by cusp precipitation, through entrainment in the polar cap flow and relaxation into smooth patches as they approach the nightside auroral oval.

Heavy (O+) ion energization and field‐aligned motion in and near the ionosphere are still not well understood. Based on observations from the CAScade, Smallsat and IOnospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE) Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe at altitudes between 325 km and 730 km over 1 year, we present a statistical study (24 events) of ion heating and its relation to field‐aligned ion bulk flow velocity, low‐frequency waves, and field‐aligned currents. The ion temperature and field‐aligned bulk flow velocity are derived from 2‐D ion velocity distribution functions measured by the suprathermal electron imager (SEI) instrument. Consistent ion heating and flow velocity characteristics are observed from both the SEI and the rapid‐scanning ion mass spectrometer instruments. We find that transverse O+ ion heating in the ionosphere can be intense (up to 4.5 eV), confined to very narrow regions (∼2 km across B), is more likely to occur in the downward current region and is associated with broadband extremely low frequency (BBELF) waves. These waves are interpreted as linearly polarized perpendicular to the magnetic field. The amount of ion heating cannot be explained by frictional heating, and the correlation of ion heating with BBELF waves suggests that significant wave‐ion heating is occurring and even dominating at altitudes as low as 350 km, a boundary that is lower than previously reported. Surprisingly, the majority of these heating events (17 out 24) are associated with core ion downflows rather than upflows. This may be explained by a downward pointing electric field in the low‐altitude return current region.

High‐latitude ionospheric plasma convection plays a fundamental role in determining many processes in the terrestrial ionosphere. Electric Field Instruments on the European Space Agency's three polar‐orbiting Swarm satellites measure ionospheric ion drift velocities at about 500 km altitude using thermal ion imager energy/angle‐of‐arrival electrostatic analyzers. Recently, European Space Agency released horizontal cross‐track components of these drifts, calibrated at high latitudes. This paper concerns the validation of the Swarm horizontal cross‐track ion drift measurements. All available Swarm‐A and Swarm‐B 2 Hz data between November 2015 and July 2017 were used and the climatology of high‐latitude ion convection was constructed and examined. Results were compared to corresponding climatology obtained from the Weimer 2005 empirical convection electric field model under different interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind conditions in the northern and southern hemispheres, separately. The ion drift data sometimes exhibit large offsets at middle latitudes. However, following a recalibration of the drifts using a refinement of the offset removal, the Swarm cross‐track ion drift climatology agrees reasonably well statistically with the Weimer 2005 model, and properly responds to the changing geospace environment. The two results agree within about 200 m/s (root‐mean‐square deviation), however the correlations are higher for southward interplanetary magnetic field and in the northern hemisphere (rswarm‐A = 0.84, rswarm‐B = 0.77), for which the corresponding magnitudes of Swarm‐A and Swarm‐B drifts are ~14% and ~33% larger than the model estimates, respectively. The convection patterns seen in the revised Swarm horizontal cross‐track drift velocities are more structured than those obtained using the model, but overall no significant systematic errors are present.

Intense zonal ion velocity jets in the northern nightside auroral zone are measured during quiet geomagnetic conditions by the Swarm satellites around 500 km altitude. These velocity jets, exceeding 1 km/s in over 50% of orbits measured, range from 20 to 100 km in meridional thickness and reach a maximum at the boundary between upward and downward field‐aligned current. On average they represent a potential difference of approximately 3 kV between the R1/R2 currents. This boundary also separates different regions of electron temperature and meridional flow and is associated with ion upflows and anisotropic heating. Both dawnward and duskward velocity jets are observed, including some oppositely directed pairs bounding regions of upward field‐aligned current. Coincident ground‐based observations place ion velocity jets adjacent to auroral arcs, embedded in the auroral electrojets. Previous literature has focused on fast flows occurring in regions of relative low conductivity surrounding auroral arcs, typically during geomagnetically active conditions, and does not address the occurrence frequency of these events. We show ion velocity jets to be a persistent and ubiquitous property of the electrodynamics of quiet time R1/R2 current closure near midnight in the winter hemisphere.

[1] We present simultaneous observations of ion distribution functions and plasma waves in the high-latitude topside ionosphere (500-1000 km) near local midnight during substorm activation. Using a new instrument, the Suprathermal Ion Imager (SII), we are able to explore two-dimensional ion distribution functions with unprecedented resolution in time (93 s À1 ) and energy, focusing on the lowest-energy core (<1 eV) population and suprathermal extensions thereof. The GEODESIC sounding rocket flew through regions containing broadband extremely low frequency (BB ELF) waves, large-amplitude Alfvén waves, and lower-hybrid solitary structures (LHSS), all of which have been shown previously to correlate with ion heating. However, GEODESIC detected heating only in association with LHSS. Ion distributions in and near LHSS showed acceleration in the direction transverse toB 0 (TAI) with temperatures as high as 5-10 eV, appearing in regions 65 ± 25 m across. TAI were centered on much smaller structures ($20 m across) of depleted plasma density and enhanced perpendicular electric fields from 0.1 to 10 kHz, consistent with observations from previous rocket flights. Also in agreement with previous findings, we find two distinct ion populations inside LHSS. The dominant population is composed of unheated, isotropic ''core'' Maxwellian ions having temperatures comparable to the surrounding ambient plasma, while roughly 10% of the plasma density corresponds to the TAI at pitch angles of 90 ± 5°. We argue that the TAI associated with LHSS is consistent with bulk heating of the core ions, and we describe two scenarios that can lead to the observed two-temperature distributions. The BB ELF wave emissions were correlated with LHSS heating at short scales and anticorrelated with auroral electron precipitation at large scales. The GEODESIC instruments observed no large-scale ion heating in association with BB ELF waves. Similarly, no ion heating was detected in the presence of large-amplitude, short perpendicular wavelength Alfvén waves.

Low-energy plasmas having temperatures of order 1 eV or less are found commonly in the ionospheres and space environments of Earth and other planets. Measuring the density, temperature, drift velocities, phase-space anisotropies, and other properties of these plasmas presents numerous challenges. Examples are distortions of particle trajectories due to spacecraft wakes, spacecraft charging, and particle gyromotion in magnetized plasmas. Furthermore, these plasmas are known to organize into structures as small as tens of meters across, traversed by spacecraft in tens of milliseconds or less. The Suprathermal Plasma Imager (SPI) was developed to address these challenges. The SPI is optimized for measurements of particles with ∼1 eV energies, and of the suprathermal extension of those populations up to several hundred eV. The SPI is sensitive to particle flux intensities of order 6×105 cm−2 s−1 sr−1 eV−1 and greater. It produces 3024-pixel images corresponding to two-dimensional (angle/energy) cuts through plasma velocity distribution functions, with an image frame rate of up to 100 s−1. The SPI has a cylindrical sensor head measuring 37.5 mm in diameter and 14 cm long, with a mass of 350 g. The relatively small size and mass of the sensor allow it to be deployed easily on a boom, outside of the spacecraft’s electrical sheath and in a region where wake perturbations are reduced. The SPI sensor head contains no electronic circuitry, but instead creates a visible image of the particle distribution with a system of dc-biased grids, microchannel plates, and a phosphor screen. The phosphor image is transferred via an imaging fiber-optic cable to an instrument box in the main spacecraft body, where it is sampled with a charge-coupled device and support electronics. Inside the sensor, angle/energy images of incident particle distributions are formed by a pair of concentric hemispherical grids. The incident energies Ei accessible to the analyzer lie in the range 0⩽Ei⩽Emax where Emax≈qΔV/3, ΔV being the potential difference between the hemispheres. For an ideal analyzer, energy resolution ΔE/E is ⩽22% over most of the imaged energy range, degrading at energies below Emax/10. Angular resolution varies from 2° to 8° full width at half maximum between Emax and Emax/10. Energy and angular resolutions are degraded in the presence of a potential difference between the sensor and surrounding plasma. A 37.5-mm-diam version of the analyzer with a 0.86-mm-wide aperture has an ideal energy-dependent geometry factor of ≈5×10−4 eV sr cm2 for a square detector pixel of width 0.28 mm. Laboratory testing shows degraded energy resolution compared to ideal values, due in part to particle scattering within the analyzer. The SPI was tested successfully in flight on the GEODESIC auroral sounding rocket on 26 February 2000.