The cold particle populations (with energy less than ~100 eV) of the Earth’s magnetosphere are very sparsely measured because of spacecraft-charging and secondary-electron-contamination issues so much so in some cases they have been referred to as the ‘hidden populations’. They are also very poorly understood: in general, they have not been thoroughly surveyed and their origins and controlling factors are often unknown. Yet, their known impacts critically affect the dynamics of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system, both locally and globally.

This session aims at bringing together researchers interested in near-Earth cold-plasma science. Contributions on all aspects of cold-plasma research are welcome, including perspectives, data surveys, impacts (known and possible), open scientific questions, measurements techniques (old and new) and new space missions (proposed or needed). Contributions on how to include the impacts of cold plasmas in global magnetospheric models are also encouraged.