A New Pathway for Cross-Scale Energy Transfer during Solar Wind‒Magnetosphere Interaction

A New Pathway for Cross-Scale Energy Transfer during Solar Wind‒Magnetosphere Interaction | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article A New Pathway for Cross-Scale Energy Transfer during Solar Wind‒Magnetosphere Interaction Zuzheng Chen, Huishan Fu, Jinbin Cao, Jiang Yu, Tieyan Wang, Olivier Le Contel, and 12 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781128/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract A fundamental yet still poorly understood question in solar wind–magnetosphere interaction is how energy from solar wind is transferred into Earth's magnetosphere and subsequently transferred across scales. Utilizing high-resolution joint measurements from NASA’s MMS and THEMIS missions, we reveal a new pathway for solar wind energy from its global-scale injection into Earth’s magnetosphere to its cross-scale cascade down to electron scales, predominantly mediated by cross-scale wave-particle and wave-wave interactions. Enhancements in solar wind dynamic pressure directly drive solar wind energy into Earth’s magnetosphere in the form of ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves and mirror-mode structures. Their coupling adiabatically modulates electron distributions, producing butterfly distributions to supply sufficient free energy for generating whistler-mode waves within ULF wave troughs. Concomitantly, the whistler-mode harmonics emerge from nonlinear wave couplings. Throughout, energy is also transferred from ions to electrons via mirror-mode structures. These findings advance our understanding of energy transfer chain during the interactions between solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere. Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Space physics/Magnetospheric physics Physical sciences/Physics/Plasma physics/Astrophysical plasmas Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Space physics/Solar physics Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Planetary science/Inner planets Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformationCrossScaleEnergyTransferSWEMinteractionchenzzh.pdf Supplementary Information for Cross-Scale Energy Transfer during SW-EM interaction Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8781128","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":590400875,"identity":"a1face8e-87a8-4645-b8d0-ac9af4501435","order_by":0,"name":"Zuzheng Chen","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAz0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCTB5QM4AwmUmXosx6VoSNxCthX9287GHP/7cSd8ukfzwA0OFdWID+9kD+C25cyzdQILnWe7OGWnGEgxn0hMbePIS8GoxkMgxkzCQOJy74UaCgQRj2+HEBgkeAwJa8r9JJBgcTje4kf75B+M/orTksEkcSDicYHADaB1jAxFaJG6kmUk2HDhsuLPnTZlFwrF04zaeHPxa+GckP5P88eewvDl7+uYbH2qsZfvZz+DXggoSgJiNBPWjYBSMglEwCnAAAI/BRfxdRcLpAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0980-5350","institution":"Beihang University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zuzheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":590400876,"identity":"32c4549b-b2a2-45b4-ab62-dd69083c0fbd","order_by":1,"name":"Huishan Fu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4701-7219","institution":"Beihang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Huishan","middleName":"","lastName":"Fu","suffix":""},{"id":590400877,"identity":"949c6680-147e-4e34-8c97-a1d8f116dd6d","order_by":2,"name":"Jinbin Cao","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5637-2976","institution":"Beihang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jinbin","middleName":"","lastName":"Cao","suffix":""},{"id":590400878,"identity":"52e7ef71-aee2-4911-92ef-97ce694a56b3","order_by":3,"name":"Jiang Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sun Yat-sen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""},{"id":590400879,"identity":"69df0699-403f-4d89-bd2e-bf7d501ae42c","order_by":4,"name":"Tieyan Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yunnan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tieyan","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":590400880,"identity":"51a82b92-0ebc-4afd-8f19-570cc0818e6b","order_by":5,"name":"Olivier Le Contel","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2713-7966","institution":"CNRS/Sorbonne Université/Université Parsi-Saclay/Observatoire de Paris/Ecole Polytechnique Institut Polytechnique de Paris","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Olivier","middleName":"Le","lastName":"Contel","suffix":""},{"id":590400881,"identity":"2917fd64-b386-4538-b81f-c106816815b8","order_by":6,"name":"Christopher Russell","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California, Los Angeles","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christopher","middleName":"","lastName":"Russell","suffix":""},{"id":590400882,"identity":"cb69947e-465c-4f9e-bae2-d3097b6f368a","order_by":7,"name":"Craig Pollock","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Denali Scientific","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Craig","middleName":"","lastName":"Pollock","suffix":""},{"id":590400883,"identity":"4e8b3996-4b38-494a-a011-8937f2d369c5","order_by":8,"name":"P.-A. Lindqvist","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5617-9765","institution":"Royal Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"P.-A.","middleName":"","lastName":"Lindqvist","suffix":""},{"id":590400884,"identity":"38e90bf3-b441-454e-9362-b831e93708e1","order_by":9,"name":"Robert Ergun","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Colorado, Boulder","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Robert","middleName":"","lastName":"Ergun","suffix":""},{"id":590400885,"identity":"3c49711c-4651-497d-aac4-fdb8827e9bf8","order_by":10,"name":"James McFadden","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California, Berkeley","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"James","middleName":"","lastName":"McFadden","suffix":""},{"id":590400886,"identity":"7fad00bb-da8f-42a8-8017-ad9d04378e5d","order_by":11,"name":"Wending Fu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beihang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wending","middleName":"","lastName":"Fu","suffix":""},{"id":590400887,"identity":"a3b3a940-0894-46d1-bfd6-5fa516be617e","order_by":12,"name":"Zhenyu Xu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beihang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhenyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":590400888,"identity":"b20812e6-d6e9-478f-9bef-f66b6208eb84","order_by":13,"name":"Zhizhong Guo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kunming University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhizhong","middleName":"","lastName":"Guo","suffix":""},{"id":590400889,"identity":"dbc7f88b-dab9-4988-afcd-9603330d348e","order_by":14,"name":"Yue Yu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beihang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yue","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""},{"id":590400890,"identity":"360d86bc-9818-43fc-be3c-4fd58a2cf0b5","order_by":15,"name":"Jing Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sun Yat-sen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jing","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":590400891,"identity":"83b15650-1fcf-4329-9b16-1c6244ac97fe","order_by":16,"name":"Jun Cui","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jun","middleName":"","lastName":"Cui","suffix":""},{"id":590400892,"identity":"7f5d8f02-4c75-498d-a863-cbc5f7511922","order_by":17,"name":"James Burch","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0452-8403","institution":"Southwest Research Institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"James","middleName":"","lastName":"Burch","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-04 03:05:33","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781128/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781128/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107692178,"identity":"2719156c-54cf-4de7-8a90-e8dc70500018","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 06:19:58","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1710820,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptCrossScaleEnergyTransferSWEMinteractionchenzzh.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8781128/v1_covered_43d779a9-eb3f-4763-b89f-249b41db2200.pdf"},{"id":107692172,"identity":"bd6a2bd1-21be-4f80-ad50-753853aab8c8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 06:19:52","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":277842,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information for Cross-Scale Energy Transfer during SW-EM interaction","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInformationCrossScaleEnergyTransferSWEMinteractionchenzzh.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8781128/v1/bf2ba59862bee5798724d247.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"A New Pathway for Cross-Scale Energy Transfer during Solar Wind‒Magnetosphere Interaction","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781128/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781128/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"A fundamental yet still poorly understood question in solar wind–magnetosphere interaction is how energy from solar wind is transferred into Earth's magnetosphere and subsequently transferred across scales. Utilizing high-resolution joint measurements from NASA’s MMS and THEMIS missions, we reveal a new pathway for solar wind energy from its global-scale injection into Earth’s magnetosphere to its cross-scale cascade down to electron scales, predominantly mediated by cross-scale wave-particle and wave-wave interactions. Enhancements in solar wind dynamic pressure directly drive solar wind energy into Earth’s magnetosphere in the form of ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves and mirror-mode structures. Their coupling adiabatically modulates electron distributions, producing butterfly distributions to supply sufficient free energy for generating whistler-mode waves within ULF wave troughs. Concomitantly, the whistler-mode harmonics emerge from nonlinear wave couplings. Throughout, energy is also transferred from ions to electrons via mirror-mode structures. These findings advance our understanding of energy transfer chain during the interactions between solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere.","manuscriptTitle":"A New Pathway for Cross-Scale Energy Transfer during Solar Wind‒Magnetosphere Interaction","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-24 06:19:32","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8781128/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2045ed34-a523-44a7-aac8-fd46fcf49ad0","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 24th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":62827975,"name":"Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Space physics/Magnetospheric physics"},{"id":62827976,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics/Plasma physics/Astrophysical plasmas"},{"id":62827977,"name":"Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Space physics/Solar physics"},{"id":62827978,"name":"Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Planetary science/Inner planets"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-24T06:19:32+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-24 06:19:32","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8781128","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8781128","identity":"rs-8781128","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}