To investigate the universality of magnetic turbulence in space plasmas, we analyze seven time periods in the free solar wind under different plasma conditions. Three instruments on Cluster spacecraft operating in different frequency ranges give us the possibility to resolve spectra up to 300 Hz. We show that the spectra form a quasiuniversal spectrum following the Kolmogorov's law approximately k(-5/3) at MHD scales, a approximately k(-2.8) power law at ion scales, and an exponential approximately exp[-sqrt[k(rho)e]] at scales k(rho)e approximately [0.1,1], where rho(e) is the electron gyroradius. This is the first observation of an exponential magnetic spectrum in space plasmas that may indicate the onset of dissipation. We distinguish for the first time between the role of different spatial kinetic plasma scales and show that the electron Larmor radius plays the role of a dissipation scale in space plasma turbulence.

Magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind are distributed according to Kolmogorov's power law f À5/3 below the ion cyclotron frequency f ci . Above this frequency, the observed steeper power law is usually interpreted in two different ways, as a dissipative range of the solar wind turbulence, or another turbulent cascade, the nature of which is still an open question. Using the Cluster magnetic data we show that after the spectral break the intermittency increases toward higher frequencies, indicating the presence of nonlinear interactions inherent to a new inertial range and not to the dissipative range. At the same time the level of compressible fluctuations rises. We show that the energy transfer rate and intermittency are sensitive to the level of compressibility of the magnetic fluctuations within the small-scale inertial range. We conjecture that the time needed to establish this inertial range is shorter than the eddy-turnover time, and is related to dispersive effects. A simple phenomenological model, based on the compressible Hall MHD, predicts the magnetic spectrum $k À7/3þ2 , which depends on the degree of plasma compression .

The anisotropy of turbulence in the fast solar wind, between the ion and electron gyroscales, is directly observed using a multispacecraft analysis technique. Second order structure functions are calculated at different angles to the local magnetic field, for magnetic fluctuations both perpendicular and parallel to the mean field. In both components, the structure function value at large angles to the field S{⊥} is greater than at small angles S{∥}: in the perpendicular component S{⊥}/S{∥}=5±1 and in the parallel component S{⊥}/S{∥}>3, implying spatially anisotropic fluctuations, k{⊥}>k{∥}. The spectral index of the perpendicular component is -2.6 at large angles and -3 at small angles, in broad agreement with critically balanced whistler and kinetic Alfvén wave predictions. For the parallel component, however, it is shallower than -1.9, which is considerably less steep than predicted for a kinetic Alfvén wave cascade.

The description of the turbulent spectrum of magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind in the kinetic range of scales is not yet completely established. Here, we perform a statistical study of 100 spectra measured by the STAFF instrument on the Cluster mission, which allows to resolve turbulent fluctuations from ion scales down to a fraction of electron scales, i.e. from ∼ 10 2 km to ∼ 300 m. We show that for k ⊥ ρ e ∈ [0.03, 3] (that corresponds approximately to the frequency in the spacecraft frame f ∈ [3, 300] Hz), all the observed spectra can be described by a general lawwhere k ⊥ is the wave-vector component normal to the background magnetic field and ρ e the electron Larmor radius. This exponential tail found in the solar wind seems compatible with the Landau damping of magnetic fluctuations onto electrons.

Solar wind is probably the best laboratory to study turbulence in astrophysical plasmas. In addition to the presence of magnetic field, the differences with neutral fluid isotropic turbulence are: (i) weakness of collisional dissipation and (ii) presence of several characteristic space and time scales. In this paper we discuss observational properties of solar wind turbulence in a large range from the MHD to the electron scales. At MHD scales, within the inertial range, turbulence cascade of magnetic fluctuations develops mostly in the plane perpendicular to the mean field, with the Kolmogorov scaling k −5/3 ⊥ for the perpendicular cascade and k −2 for the parallel one. Solar wind turbulence is compressible in nature: density fluctuations at MHD scales have the Kolmogorov spectrum. Velocity fluctuations do not follow magnetic field ones: their spectrum is a power-law with a −3/2 spectral index. Probability distribution functions of different plasma parameters are not Gaussian, indicating presence of intermittency. At the moment there is no global model taking into account all these observed properties of the inertial range. At ion scales, turbulent spectra have a break, compressibility increases and the density fluctuation spectrum has a local flattening. Around ion scales, magnetic spectra are variable and ion instabilities occur as a function of the local plasma parameters. Between ion and electron scales, a small scale turbulent cascade seems to be established. It is characterized by a well defined power-law spectrum in magnetic and density fluctuations with a spectral index close to −2.8. Approaching electron scales, the fluctuations are no more self-similar: an exponential cut-off is usually observed (for time intervals without quasi-parallel whistlers) indicating an onset of dissipation. The small scale inertial range between ion and electron scales and the electron dissipation range can be together described by ∼ k −α ⊥ exp(−k ⊥ d ), with α 8/3 and the dissipation scale d close to the electron Larmor radius d ρ e . The nature of this small scale cascade and a possible dissipation mechanism are still under debate.

[1] Submicrometer sea salt aerosol (SSA) particles are routinely observed in the remote marine boundary layer (MBL); these aerosols include cloud condensation nuclei and so affect the earth's radiative balance. Here foams designed to mimic oceanic whitecaps were generated in the laboratory using a range of bubbling flow rates and aqueous media: unfiltered seawater, filtered seawater, artificial seawater, and mixtures of filtered and artificial seawater. The number and sizes of dried foam droplets in the particle diameter, D p , range 15-673 nm were measured. Particle size distributions for natural and artificial seawaters were unimodal with a dN/d logD p mode at D p % 100 nm (%200 nm at 80% RH). The foam droplet mode falls within the range of reported mode diameters (D p = 40-200 nm) for submicrometer SSA particles observed in the remote MBL. The present laboratory results were scaled up to estimate submicrometer SSA particle fluxes; this extrapolation supports the hypothesis that foam droplets are the most important source of SSA particles by number. The foam droplet flux from the oceans was estimated to be 980 cm À2 s À1 for a fractional white cap coverage, W, of 0.2%. These results compared well with foam droplet fluxes reported elsewhere. The origins of variability in foam droplet fluxes were also evaluated. Natural organic matter affected foam droplet flux by a factor of 1.5; this was less than (1) the effect of bubbling flow rate on foam droplet flux (factor of 5) and (2) the uncertainty in W (factor of 3-7).

The nature of the magnetic field fluctuations in the solar wind between the ion and electron scales is still under debate. Using the Cluster/STAFF instrument, we make a survey of the power spectral density and of the polarization of these fluctuations at frequencies f ∈ [1, 400] Hz, during five years (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005), when Cluster was in the free solar wind. In ∼ 10% of the selected data, we observe narrow-band, right-handed, circularly polarized fluctuations, with wave vectors quasi-parallel to the mean magnetic field, superimposed on the spectrum of the permanent background turbulence. We interpret these coherent fluctuations as whistler mode waves. The life time of these waves varies between a few seconds and several hours. Here we present, for the first time, an analysis of long-lived whistler waves, i.e. lasting more than five minutes. We find several necessary (but not sufficient) conditions for the observation of whistler waves, mainly a low level of the background turbulence, a slow wind, a relatively large electron heat flux and a low electron collision frequency. When the electron parallel beta factor β e is larger than 3, the whistler waves are seen along the heat flux threshold of the whistler heat flux instability. The presence of such whistler waves confirms that the whistler heat flux instability contributes to the regulation of the solar wind heat flux, at least for β e ≥ 3, in the slow wind, at 1 AU.

We present a study of magnetic field fluctuations, in a slow solar wind stream, close to ion scales, where an increase of the level of magnetic compressibility is observed. Here, the nature of these compressive fluctuations is found to be characterized by coherent structures. Although previous studies have shown that current sheets can be considered as the principal cause of intermittency at ion scales, here we show for the first time that, in the case of the slow solar wind, a large variety of coherent structures contributes to intermittency at proton scales, and current sheets are not the most common. Specifically, we find compressive (δb ≫ δb ⊥ ), linearly polarized structures in the form of magnetic holes, solitons and shock waves. Examples of Alfvénic structures (δb ⊥ > δb ) are identified as current sheets and vortex-like structures. Some of these vortices have δb ⊥ ≫ δb , as in the case of Alfvén vortices, but the majority of them are characterized by δb ⊥ δb . Thanks to multipoint measurements by Cluster spacecraft, for about 100 structures, we could determine the normal, the propagation velocity and the spatial scale along this normal. Independently of the nature of the structures, the normal is always perpendicular to the local magnetic field, meaning that k ⊥ ≫ k . The spatial scales of the studied structures are found to be between 2 and 8 times the proton gyroradius. Most of them are simply convected by the wind, but 25% propagate in the plasma frame. Possible interpretations of the observed structures and the connection with plasma heating are discussed.