Plasma transport into the duskside magnetopause caused by Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices in response to the northward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field observed by THEMIS

A train of Kelvin–Helmholtz (K–H) vortices with plasma transport across the magnetopause has been observed by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) abruptly turns northward. This unique event occurred without pre-existing denser boundary layer to facilitate the instability. Two THEMIS spacecraft, TH-A and TH-E, separated by 3 Re, periodically encountered the duskside magnetopause and the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) with a period of 2 minutes and tailward propagation of 194 km/s. There was no high-velocity low-density feature, but the rotations in the bulk velocity observation, distorted magnetopause with plasma parameter fluctuations and the magnetic field line stretching, indicate the formation of rolled-up K–H vortices at the duskside magnetopause. A mixture of magnetosheath ions with magnetospheric ions and enhanced energy flux of hot electrons is identified in the K–H vortices. This mixture region appears more periodic at the upstream spacecraft and more dispersive at the downstream location, indicating a significant transport can occur and evolve during the tailward propagation of the K–H waves. There is still much work to fully understand the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism. The observations of direct response to the northward turning of the IMF, the unambiguous plasma transport within the vortices, involving both ion and electron fluxes can provide additional clues to the K–H mechanism.