Ring Current Loss Mechanisms and Composition as Inferred from Equatorial Pitch Angle Distributions Observed During a Storm Recovery Phase

2013 ◽  
pp. 701-714
Author(s):  
Theodore A. Fritz
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Angle ◽  
Ring Current ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Current Loss ◽  
Loss Mechanisms

scholarly journals Another way of deriving the ring current decay time during disturbed periods

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Zossi de Artigas ◽  
J. R. Manzano
Keyword(s):  
Ring Current ◽  
Coupling Parameter ◽  
Life Time ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Main Phase ◽  
Physical Analysis ◽  
Inner Magnetosphere ◽  
Current Decay ◽  
The Many ◽  
Energy Dissipated

Coupling parameter, E, and the total energy dissipated by the magnetosphere, UT, are determined for six disturbed periods, following three known criteria for UT computation. It is observed that UT exceeds E for Dst < -90 nT, for alI models. Differences between models reside on the estimated valnes for the particles' life time il1 the equatorial ring current. The values of TR, used in the models, are small during the main phase of the di."turbance, in disagreement with the charge exchange life time of the majority species, H+ and O'-. Based on this conclusion, a different criterion to calculate TR is proposed, differentiating the different stages of the perturbation. TR is calculated, for the main phase of the storm, from the rate of energy deposition estimation, Q, in the ring current. For Dst recovery phase, the vallles are obtained from a ring current decay law computation. The UTvu calculated, physically more coherent with the processes occurring during the event, is now smaller than expected. In this sense, it is understood that the power generated by the solar wind-magnetosphere dy- namo, should also be distributed in the inner magnetosphere, auroral zones and equatorial ring current, as in the outer magnetosphere, plasmoids in the tail shot in antisolar direction. A further adjustment of E, with the Chapman-Ferraro distance, 10' variable, has been made. Although the reslllts, improve the estimation of E, they are sti!l smaller than UT, except UTNU, for some disturbed periods. This result indicates the uncertainty in the computation of the input energy, by using the many expressions proposed in the literature, which are always presented as laws proportional to a given group of parameters, with an unknown factor of proportionality, which deserves more detailed physical analysis.

scholarly journals Statistical analysis of storm-time near-Earth current systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 965-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. W. Liemohn ◽  
R. M. Katus ◽  
R. Ilie
Keyword(s):  
Electric Field ◽  
Ring Current ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Hot Electron ◽  
Early Recovery ◽  
Superposed Epoch Analysis ◽  
Tail Current ◽  
Near Earth Space ◽  
Epoch Analysis ◽  
Current Systems

Abstract. Currents from the Hot Electron and Ion Drift Integrator (HEIDI) inner magnetospheric model results for all of the 90 intense storms (disturbance storm-time (Dst) minimum < −100 nT) from solar cycle 23 (1996–2005) are calculated, presented, and analyzed. We have categorized these currents into the various systems that exist in near-Earth space, specifically the eastward and westward symmetric ring current, the partial ring current, the banana current, and the tail current. The current results from each run set are combined by a normalized superposed epoch analysis technique that scales the timeline of each phase of each storm before summing the results. It is found that there is a systematic ordering to the current systems, with the asymmetric current systems peaking during storm main phase (tail current rising first, then the banana current, followed by the partial ring current) and the symmetric current systems peaking during the early recovery phase (westward and eastward symmetric ring current having simultaneous maxima). The median and mean peak amplitudes for the current systems ranged from 1 to 3 MA, depending on the setup configuration used in HEIDI, except for the eastward symmetric ring current, for which the mean never exceeded 0.3 MA for any HEIDI setup. The self-consistent electric field description in HEIDI yielded larger tail and banana currents than the Volland–Stern electric field, while the partial and symmetric ring currents had similar peak values between the two applied electric field models.

Comparison of TWINS and THEMIS observations of proton pitch angle distributions in the ring current during the 29 May 2010 geomagnetic storm

2013 ◽  
Vol 118 (8) ◽  
pp. 4895-4905 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. W. Grimes ◽  
J. D. Perez ◽  
J. Goldstein ◽  
D. J. McComas ◽  
P. Valek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geomagnetic Storm ◽  
Pitch Angle ◽  
Ring Current

Losses of ring current ions by strong pitch angle scattering

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (20) ◽  
pp. 3839-3841 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Walt ◽  
H. D. Voss
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Angle ◽  
Ring Current ◽  
Angle Scattering

scholarly journals Ring Current Proton Dynamics Driven by Wave-Particle Interactions During a Nonstorm Period

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-104
Author(s):  
Sergei V. Smolin
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Angle ◽  
Ring Current ◽  
Activity Index ◽  
Proton Flux ◽  
Angle Distribution ◽  
Particle Interactions ◽  
Pitch Angle Distribution ◽  
Ion Cyclotron ◽  
Wave Particle Interactions ◽  
Emic Waves

Modeling of pitch angle scattering of ring current protons at interaction with electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves during a nonstorm period was considered very seldom. Therefore it is used correlated observation of enhanced electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves and dynamic evolution of ring current proton flux collected by Cluster satellite near the location L = 4.5 during March 26–27, 2003, a nonstorm period (Dst > –10 nT). Energetic (5–30 keV) proton fluxes are found to drop rapidly (e.g., a half hour) at lower pitch angles, corresponding to intensified EMIC wave activities. As mathematical model is used the non-stationary one-dimensional pitch angle diffusion equation which allows to compute numerically density of phase space or pitch angle distribution of the charged particles in the Earth’s magnetosphere. The model depends on time t, a local pitch angle and several parameters (the mass of a particle, the energy, the McIlwain parameter, the magnetic local time or geomagnetic eastern longitude, the geomagnetic activity index, parameter of the charged particle pitch angle distribution taken for the 90 degrees pitch angle at t = 0, the lifetime due to wave–particle interactions). This model allows numerically to estimate also for different geophysical conditions a lifetime due to wave–particle interactions. It is shown, that EMIC waves can yield decrements in proton flux within 30 minutes, consistent with the observational data. The good consent is received. Comparison of results on full model for the pitch angle range from 0 up to 180 degrees and on the model for the 90 degrees pitch angle is lead. For a perpendicular differential flux of the Earth’s ring current protons very good consent with the maximal relative error approximately 3.23 % is received

scholarly journals An auroral westward flow channel (AWFC) and its relationship to field-aligned current, ring current, and plasmapause location determined using multiple spacecraft observations

2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. Parkinson ◽  
J. A. Wild ◽  
C. L. Waters ◽  
M. Lester ◽  
E. A. Lucek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Sheet ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ring Current ◽  
Narrow Channel ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Auroral Oval ◽  
Flow Channel ◽  
Expansion Phase ◽  
Field Aligned Current

Abstract. An auroral westward flow channel (AWFC) is a latitudinally narrow channel of unstable F-region plasma with intense westward drift in the dusk-to-midnight sector ionosphere. AWFCs tend to overlap the equatorward edge of the auroral oval, and their life cycle is often synchronised to that of substorms: they commence close to substorm expansion phase onset, intensify during the expansion phase, and then decay during the recovery phase. Here we define for the first time the relationship between an AWFC, large-scale field-aligned current (FAC), the ring current, and plasmapause location. The Tasman International Geospace Environment Radar (TIGER), a Southern Hemisphere HF SuperDARN radar, observed a jet-like AWFC during ~08:35 to 13:28 UT on 7 April 2001. The initiation of the AWFC was preceded by a band of equatorward expanding ionospheric scatter (BEES) which conveyed an intense poleward electric field through the inner plasma sheet. Unlike previous AWFCs, this event was not associated with a distinct substorm surge; rather it occurred during an interval of persistent, moderate magnetic activity characterised by AL~−200 nT. The four Cluster spacecraft had perigees within the dusk sector plasmasphere, and their trajectories were magnetically conjugate to the radar observations. The Waves of High frequency and Sounder for Probing Electron density by Relaxation (WHISPER) instruments on board Cluster were used to identify the plasmapause location. The Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) EUV experiment also provided global-scale observations of the plasmapause. The Cluster fluxgate magnetometers (FGM) provided successive measurements specifying the relative location of the ring current and filamentary plasma sheet current. An analysis of Iridium spacecraft magnetometer measurements provided estimates of large-scale ionospheric FAC in relation to the AWFC evolution. Peak flows in the AWFC were located close to the peak of a Region 2 downward FAC, located just poleward of the plasmapause. DMSP satellite observations confirmed the AWFC was located equatorward of the nightside plasmasheet, sometimes associated with ~10 keV ion precipitation.

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