scholarly journals THEMIS observations of penetration of the plasma sheet into the ring current region during a magnetic storm

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Ping Wang ◽  
Larry R. Lyons ◽  
Vassilis Angelopoulos ◽  
Davin Larson ◽  
J. P. McFadden ◽  
...  
1998 ◽  
Vol 103 (A11) ◽  
pp. 26285-26305 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. U. Kozyra ◽  
V. K. Jordanova ◽  
J. E. Borovsky ◽  
M. F. Thomsen ◽  
D. J. Knipp ◽  
...  

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 329-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Krimigis ◽  
G. Gloeckler ◽  
R. W. McEntire ◽  
T. A. Potemra ◽  
F. L. Scarf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1849-1865 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Vallat ◽  
I. Dandouras ◽  
M. Dunlop ◽  
A. Balogh ◽  
E. Lucek ◽  
...  

Abstract. The inner magnetosphere's current mapping is one of the key elements for current loop closure inside the entire magnetosphere. A method for directly computing the current is the multi-spacecraft curlometer technique, which is based on the application of Maxwell-Ampère's law. This requires the use of four-point magnetic field high resolution measurements. The FGM experiment on board the four Cluster spacecraft allows, for the first time, an instantaneous calculation of the magnetic field gradients and thus a measurement of the local current density. This technique requires, however, a careful study concerning all the factors that can affect the accuracy of the J estimate, such as the tetrahedral geometry of the four spacecraft, or the size and orientation of the current structure sampled. The first part of this paper is thus providing a detailed analysis of the method accuracy, and points out the limitations of this technique in the region of interest. The second part is an analysis of the ring current region, which reveals, for the first time, the large latitudinal extent of the ring current, for all magnetic activity levels, as well as the latitudinal evolution of the perpendicular (and parallel) components of the current along the diffuse auroral zone. Our analysis also points out the sharp transition between two distinct plasma regions, with the existence of high diamagnetic currents at the interface, as well as the filamentation of the current inside the inner plasma sheet. A statistical study over multiple perigee passes of Cluster (at about 4 RE from the Earth) reveals the azimuthal extent of the partial ring current. It also reveals that, at these distances and all along the evening sector, there isn't necessarily a strong dependence of the local current density value on the magnetic activity level. This is a direct consequence of the ring current morphology evolution, as well as the relative positioning of the spacecraft with respect to the bulk of the ring current. It also proves the existence of a substantial ring current at these distances, all over the evening and the post-midnight sector. Keywords. Magnetospheric physics (Current systems; Energetic particles, trapped; Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics)


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanyan Yang ◽  
Chao Shen ◽  
Yong Ji

Abstract. It is generally believed that field aligned currents (FACs) and the ring current (RC) are two dominant parts of the inner magnetosphere. However, using the Cluster spacecraft crossing of the pre-midnight inner plasma sheet in the latitude region between 10° N and 30° N, it is found that, during large storm events, in addition to FACs and the RC, there also exist strong southward and northward currents, which cannot be FACs, because the magnetic field in these regions is mainly along the XY plane. Detailed investigation shows that both magnetic field lines (MFLs) and currents in these regions highly fluctuate. When the curvature of MFLs changes direction in the XY plane, the current also alternatively switches between southward and northward. Further analysis of the current generation mechanism indicates that the most reasonable candidate for the origin of these southward and northward currents is the curvature drift of energetic particles.


2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 3547-3556 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Xie ◽  
Z. Y. Pu ◽  
X. Z. Zhou ◽  
S. Y. Fu ◽  
Q.-G. Zong ◽  
...  

Abstract. An extensive study of ring current injection and intensification of the storm-time ring current is conducted with three-dimensional (3-D) test particle trajectory calculations (TPTCs). The TPTCs reveal more accurately the process of ring current injection, with the main results being the following: (1) an intense convection electric field can effectively energize and inject plasma sheet particles into the ring current region within 1–3 h. (2) Injected ions often follow chaotic trajectories in non-adiabatic regions, which may have implications in storm and ring current physics. (3) The shielding electric field, which arises as a consequence of enhanced convection and co-exists with the injection and convection electric field, may cause the original open trajectories of injected ions with higher energy to change into closed ones, thus playing a role in the formation of the symmetric ring current.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Lukianova

Abstract. Swarm satellites observations are used to characterize the extreme behavior of large- and small-scale field-aligned currents (FACs) during the severe magnetic storm of September 2017. Evolution of the current intensities and the equatorward displacement of FACs are analyzed while the satellites cross the pre-midnight, pre-noon, dusk and dawn sectors in both hemispheres. The equatorward boundaries of FACs mainly follow the dynamics of ring current (as monitored in terms of the SYM-H index). The minimum latitude of the FAC boundaries is limited to 50° MLat, below which saturation occurs. The FAC densities are very variable and may increase dramatically, especially in the nightside ionosphere during the storm-time substorms. At the peak of substorm, the average FAC densities reach 3 μA/m2, while the quite level is below 0.1 μA/m2. The dawn–dusk asymmetry is manifested in the enhanced dusk-side R2 FACs in both hemispheres. Filamentary high-density structures are always observed confirming that a substantial fraction of R1/R2 FACs is composed of many small-scale currents. In the pre-noon sector, the bipolar structures (7.5 km width FACs of opposite polarities adjacent to each other) dominate, while in the post-midnight sector the upward and downward FACs tend to form more latitudinally extended structures of a certain polarity. The most intense small-scale FACs (up to ~80 μA/m2) is observed just in the post-midnight sector. Simultaneous magnetic and plasma perturbations indicate that this structure is likely a current system of a mesoscale auroral arc.


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