Authors: Sahanaj Aktar Banu (University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, United States), Reka Winslow (University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, United States), Emma Davies (University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, United States), Camilla Scolini (University of New Hampshire, Dover, New Hampshire, United States)

Small flux ropes (SFRs) are magnetic structures in the solar wind which can be described as a bundle of magnetic field lines twisted into a cylindrical shape with a strong axial field. Their duration ranges from a few minutes to a few hours depending on heliocentric distance and they exhibit plasma properties similar to the background solar wind. In this study, we characterize SFRs and build a comprehensive catalog using the cruise phase data from the Juno spacecraft. In the absence of plasma data during the cruise phase, we defined a set of strict SFR identification criteria using magnetometer data only, based on the magnetic field strength, rotation of the magnetic field components, and SFR duration. During its cruise phase, Juno traveled from Earth to Jupiter covering heliocentric distances from 1 AU to 5.4 AU, and therefore we can study the statistical evolution of SFRs over a wide heliocentric distance range. We investigate several SFR properties, including their duration, core field strength, and occurrence rate as a function of the heliospheric distance in order to gain insight into their formation mechanism and evolution.