scholarly journals A flux transfer event observed at the magnetopause by the Equator-S spacecraft and in the ionosphere by the CUTLASS HF radar

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 707-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Neudegg ◽  
T. K. Yeoman ◽  
S. W. H. Cowley ◽  
G. Provan ◽  
G. Haerendel ◽  
...  

Abstract. Observations of a flux transfer event (FTE) have been made simultaneously by the Equator-S spacecraft near the dayside magnetopause whilst corresponding transient plasma flows were seen in the near-conjugate polar ionosphere by the CUTLASS Finland HF radar. Prior to the occurrence of the FTE, the magnetometer on the WIND spacecraft ~226 RE upstream of the Earth in the solar wind detected a southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) which is estimated to have reached the subsolar magnetopause ~77 min later. Shortly afterwards the Equator-S magnetometer observed a typical bipolar FTE signature in the magnetic field component normal to the magnetopause, just inside the magnetosphere. Almost simultaneously the CUTLASS Finland radar observed a strong transient flow in the F region plasma between 78° and 83° magnetic latitude, near the ionospheric region predicted to map along geomagnetic field lines to the spacecraft. The flow signature (and the data set as a whole) is found to be fully consistent with the view that the FTE was formed by a burst of magnetopause reconnection.Key words. Interplanetary physics (ionosphere-magnetosphere interaction) · Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause · cusp · and boundary layers; solar wind-magnetosphere interactions)

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mĕrka ◽  
J. Šafránková ◽  
Z. Nĕmeček

Abstract. The width of the cusp region is an indicator of the strength of the merging process and the degree of opening of the magnetosphere. During three years, the Magion-4 satellite, as part of the Interball project, has collected a unique data set of cusp-like plasma observations in middle and high altitudes. For a comparison of high- and low-altitude cusp determination, we map our observations of cusp-like plasma along the magnetic field lines down to the Earth’s surface. We use the Tsyganenko and Stern 1996 model of the magnetospheric magnetic field for the mapping, taking actual solar wind and IMF parameters from the Wind observations. The footprint positions show substantial latitudinal dependence on the dipole tilt angle. We fit this dependence with a linear function and subtract this function from observed cusp position. This process allows us to study both statistical width and location of the inspected region as a function of the solar wind and IMF parameters. Our processing of the Magion-4 measurements shows that high-altitude regions occupied by the cusp-like plasma (cusp and cleft) are projected onto a much broader area (in magnetic local time as well as in a latitude) than that determined in low altitudes. The trends of the shift of the cusp position with changes in the IMF direction established by low-altitude observations have been confirmed.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp and boundary layer; solar wind – magnetosphere interactions)


1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 685-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Rodger ◽  
M. Pinnock

Abstract. We utilise high-time resolution measurements from the PACE HF radar at Halley, Antarctica to explore the evolution of the ionospheric response during the first few minutes after enhanced reconnection occurs at the magnetopause. We show that the plasma velocity increases associated with flux transfer events (FTEs) occur first ~100–200 km equatorward of the region to which magnetosheath (cusp) precipitation maps to the ionosphere. We suggest that these velocity variations start near the ionospheric footprint of the boundary between open and closed magnetic field lines. We show that these velocity variations have rise times ~100 s and fall times of ~10 s. When these velocity transients reach the latitude of the cusp precipitation, sometimes the equatorward boundary of the precipitation begins to move equatorward, the expected and previously reported ionospheric signature of enhanced reconnection. A hypothesis is proposed to explain the velocity variations. It involves the rapid outflow of magnetospheric electrons into the magnetosheath along the most recently reconnected field lines. Several predictions are made arising from the proposed explanation which could be tested with ground-based and space-based observations.


2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 1584-1598 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. McWilliams ◽  
T. K. Yeoman ◽  
S. W. H. Cowley

Abstract. Line-of-sight Doppler velocities from the SuperDARN CUTLASS HF radar pair have been combined to produce the first two-dimensional vector measurements of the convection pattern throughout the ionospheric footprint of a flux transfer event (a pulsed ionospheric flow, or PIF). Very stable and moderate interplanetary magnetic field conditions, along with a preceding prolonged period of northward interplanetary magnetic field, allow a detailed study of the spatial and the temporal evolution of the ionospheric response to magnetic reconnection. The flux tube footprint is tracked for half an hour across six hours of local time in the auroral zone, from magnetic local noon to dusk. The motion of the footprint of the newly reconnected flux tube is compared with the ionospheric convection velocity. Two primary intervals in the PIF's evolution have been determined. For the first half of its lifetime in the radar field of view the phase speed of the PIF is highly variable and the mean speed is nearly twice the ionospheric convection speed. For the final half of its lifetime the phase velocity becomes much less variable and slows down to the ionospheric convection velocity. The evolution of the flux tube in the magnetosphere has been studied using magnetic field, magnetopause and magnetosheath models. The data are consistent with an interval of azimuthally propagating magnetopause reconnection, in a manner consonant with a peeling of magnetic flux from the magnetopause, followed by an interval of anti-sunward convection of reconnected flux tubes.Key words: Magnetospheric physics (magnetosphere · ionosphere interactions; plasma convection; solar wind · magnetosphere interactions)


1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 183-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. V. Rezhenov ◽  
Y. P. Maltsev

Abstract. It is shown that the interaction of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), when it has southward component, with the geomagnetic field leads to the formation of an enhanced pressure layer (EPL) near the magnetopause. Currents flowing on the boundary between the EPL and the magnetosheath prevent the IMF from penetrating the magnetosphere. However, the outward boundary of the EPL is unstable. The interchange instability permanently destroys the EPL. Separate filaments of the EPL move away from the Earth. New colder plasma of the magnetosheath with a frozen magnetic field replaces the hotter EPL plasma, and the process of EPL formation and destruction repeats itself. The instability increment is calculated for various magnitudes of the azimuthal wave number, ky, and curvature radius of the magnetic field lines, Rc. The disturbances with R-1e≤ky≤4R-1e (where Re is the Earth's radius) and Rc≅Re are the most unstable. A possible result of the interchange instability of the EPL may be patchy reconnection, displayed as flux transfer events (FTEs) near the magnetopause.


2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (1) ◽  
pp. L19
Author(s):  
I. Y. Vasko ◽  
K. Alimov ◽  
T. D. Phan ◽  
S. D. Bale ◽  
F. S. Mozer ◽  
...  

Abstract We present a data set and properties of 18,785 proton kinetic-scale current sheets collected over 124 days in the solar wind using magnetic field measurements at 1/11 s resolution aboard the Wind spacecraft. We show that all of the current sheets are in the parameter range where reconnection is not suppressed by diamagnetic drift of the X-line. We argue this necessary condition for magnetic reconnection is automatically satisfied due to the geometry of current sheets dictated by their source, which is the local plasma turbulence. The current sheets are shown to be elongated along the background magnetic field and dependence of the current sheet geometry on local plasma beta is revealed. We conclude that reconnection in the solar wind is not likely to be suppressed or controlled by the diamagnetic suppression condition.


2018 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 03003
Author(s):  
Polya Dobreva ◽  
Monio Kartalev ◽  
Olga Nitcheva ◽  
Natalia Borodkova ◽  
Georgy Zastenker

We investigate the behaviour of the plasma parameters in the magnetosheath in a case when Interball-1 satellite stayed in the magnetosheath, crossing the tail magnetopause. In our analysis we apply the numerical magnetosheath-magnetosphere model as a theoretical tool. The bow shock and the magnetopause are self-consistently determined in the process of the solution. The flow in the magnetosheath is governed by the Euler equations of compressible ideal gas. The magnetic field in the magnetosphere is calculated by a variant of the Tsyganenko model, modified to account for an asymmetric magnetopause. Also, the magnetopause currents in Tsyganenko model are replaced by numericaly calulated ones. Measurements from WIND spacecraft are used as a solar wind monitor. The results demonstrate a good agreement between the model-calculated and measured values of the parameters under investigation.


2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1709-1722 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. J. Bunce ◽  
S. W. H. Cowley ◽  
J. A. Wild

Abstract. We calculate the azimuthal magnetic fields expected to be present in Saturn’s magnetosphere associated with two physical effects, and compare them with the fields observed during the flybys of the two Voyager spacecraft. The first effect is associated with the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling currents which result from the sub-corotation of the magnetospheric plasma. This is calculated from empirical models of the plasma flow and magnetic field based on Voyager data, with the effective Pedersen conductivity of Saturn’s ionosphere being treated as an essentially free parameter. This mechanism results in a ‘lagging’ field configuration at all local times. The second effect is due to the day-night asymmetric confinement of the magnetosphere by the solar wind (i.e. the magnetopause and tail current system), which we have estimated empirically by scaling a model of the Earth’s magnetosphere to Saturn. This effect produces ‘leading’ fields in the dusk magnetosphere, and ‘lagging’ fields at dawn. Our results show that the azimuthal fields observed in the inner regions can be reasonably well accounted for by plasma sub-corotation, given a value of the effective ionospheric Pedersen conductivity of ~ 1–2 mho. This statement applies to field lines mapping to the equator within ~ 8 RS (1 RS is taken to be 60 330 km) of the planet on the dayside inbound passes, where the plasma distribution is dominated by a thin equatorial heavy-ion plasma sheet, and to field lines mapping to the equator within ~ 15 RS on the dawn side outbound passes. The contributions of the magnetopause-tail currents are estimated to be much smaller than the observed fields in these regions. If, however, we assume that the azimuthal fields observed in these regions are not due to sub-corotation but to some other process, then the above effective conductivities define an upper limit, such that values above ~ 2 mho can definitely be ruled out. Outside of this inner region the spacecraft observed both ‘lagging’ and ‘leading’ fields in the post-noon dayside magnetosphere during the inbound passes, with ‘leading’ fields being observed both adjacent to the magnetopause and in the ring current region, and ‘lagging’ fields being observed between. The observed ‘lagging’ fields are consistent in magnitude with the sub-corotation effect with an effective ionospheric conductivity of ~ 1–2 mho, while the ‘leading’ fields are considerably larger than those estimated for the magnetopause-tail currents, and appear to be indicative of the presence of another dynamical process. No ‘leading’ fields were observed outside the inner region on the dawn side outbound passes, with the azimuthal fields first falling below those expected for sub-corotation, before increasing, to exceed these values at radial distances beyond ~ 15–20 RS , where the effect of the magnetopause-tail currents becomes significant. As a by-product, our investigation also indicates that modification and scaling of terrestrial magnetic field models may represent a useful approach to modelling the three-dimensional magnetic field at Saturn.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (current systems; magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions; solar wind-magnetosphere interactions)


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weijie Sun ◽  
James Slavin ◽  
Anna Milillo ◽  
Ryan Dewey ◽  
Stefano Orsini ◽  
...  

Abstract At Mercury, several processes can release ions and neutrals out of the planet’s surface. Here we present enhancements of dayside planetary ions in the solar wind entry layer during flux transfer event (FTE) “showers” near Mercury’s northern magnetospheric cusp. In this entry layer, solar wind ions are accelerated and move downward (i.e. planetward) toward the cusps, which sputter upward-moving planetary ions within 1 minute. The precipitation rate is enhanced by an order of magnitude during FTE showers and the neutral density of the exosphere can vary by >10% due to this FTE-driven sputtering. These in situ observations of enhanced planetary ions in the entry layer likely correspond to an escape channel of Mercury’s planetary ions, and the large-scale variations of the exosphere observed on minute-timescales by ground-based telescopes. Comprehensive, future multi-point measurements made by BepiColombo will greatly enhance our understanding of the processes contributing to Mercury’s dynamic exosphere and magnetosphere.


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