Jets in the Magnetosheath: IMF Control of Where They Occur

Abstract. Magnetosheath jets are localized regions of plasma that move faster towards the Earth than the surrounding magnetosheath plasma. Due to their high velocities, they can cause indentations when colliding into the magnetopause and trigger processes such as magnetic reconnection and magnetopause surface waves. We statistically study the occurrence of these jets in the subsolar magnetosheath using measurements from the five Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft and OMNI solar wind data from 2008–2011. We present the observations in the BIMF-vSW plane and study the spatial distribution of jets during different interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientations. Jets occur downstream of the quasi-parallel bow shock approximately 9 times as often as downstream of the quasi-perpendicular shock, suggesting that foreshock processes are responsible for most jets. For oblique IMF, with 30°–60° cone angle, the occurrence increases monotonically from the quasi-perpendicular side to the quasi-parallel side. This study offers predictability for the numbers and locations of jets observed during different IMF orientations allowing us to better forecast the formation of these jets and their impact on the magnetosphere.

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Jets in the magnetosheath: IMF control of where they occur

Annales Geophysicae ◽

10.5194/angeo-37-689-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 689-697 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Laura Vuorinen ◽

Heli Hietala ◽

Ferdinand Plaschke

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Wind ◽

Spatial Distribution ◽

Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽

Cone Angle ◽

Time History ◽

Bow Shock ◽

The Earth ◽

Parallel Side ◽

History Of

Abstract. Magnetosheath jets are localized regions of plasma that move faster towards the Earth than the surrounding magnetosheath plasma. Due to their high velocities, they can cause indentations when colliding into the magnetopause and trigger processes such as magnetic reconnection and magnetopause surface waves. We statistically study the occurrence of these jets in the subsolar magnetosheath using measurements from the five Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft and OMNI solar wind data from 2008 to 2011. We present the observations in the BIMF–vSW plane and study the spatial distribution of jets during different interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientations. Jets occur downstream of the quasi-parallel bow shock approximately 9 times as often as downstream of the quasi-perpendicular shock, suggesting that foreshock processes are responsible for most jets. For an oblique IMF, with 30–60∘ cone angle, the occurrence increases monotonically from the quasi-perpendicular side to the quasi-parallel side. This study offers predictability for the numbers, locations, and magnetopause impact rates of jets observed during different IMF orientations, allowing us to better forecast the formation of these jets and their impact on the magnetosphere.

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Magnetic field within magnetosheath jets during northward and southward interplanetary magnetic field conditions

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-11030 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Vuorinen ◽

Heli Hietala ◽

Ferdinand Plaschke

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Wind ◽

Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽

Dynamic Pressure ◽

Time History ◽

Magnetic Shear ◽

History Of ◽

High Dynamic ◽

The Magnetic Field ◽

Magnetopause Reconnection

Downstream of the Earth's quasi-parallel shock, transients with higher earthward velocities than the surrounding magnetosheath plasma are often observed. These transients have been named magnetosheath jets. Due to their high dynamic pressure, jets can cause multiple types of effects when colliding into the magnetopause. Recently, jets have been linked to triggering magnetopause reconnection in case studies by Hietala et al. (2018) and Nykyri et al. (2019). Jets have been proposed to affect magnetopause reconnection in multiple ways. Jets can compress the magnetopause and make it thin enough for reconnection to occur. Jets could also affect the magnetic shear either by indenting the magnetopause or via the magnetic field of the jets themselves. Here we want to study whether the magnetic field of jets can statistically affect magnetopause reconnection. In particular, we are interested in whether jets could enhance reconnection during more quiet northward IMF conditions.We statistically study the magnetic field within jets in the subsolar magnetosheath using measurements from the five Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft and OMNI solar wind data from 2008&#8211;2011. We investigate jets next to the magnetopause and find that the magnetic field within jets is statistically different compared to the non-jet magnetosheath. Our results suggest that during southward IMF, the non-jet magnetosheath magnetic field itself has more variation than the jets. This suggests that jets should have no statistical, neither enhancing nor suppressing, effect on reconnection during southward IMF. However, during northward IMF, the magnetic field within jets is statistically favorable for enhancing magnetic reconnection at the subsolar magnetopause as around 70 % of these jets exhibit southward fields close to the magnetopause.

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Characteristic study of double substorm onsets in response to IMF variations

10.5194/angeo-2018-116 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ching-Chang Cheng ◽

Christopher T. Russell ◽

Ian R. Mann ◽

Eric Donovan ◽

Wolfgang Baumjohann

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Wind ◽

Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽

Time History ◽

Spectral Features ◽

Onset Timing ◽

Low Latitudes ◽

History Of ◽

Substorm Onsets ◽

Two Stages

Abstract. A study of the characteristics of double substorm onsets in response to variations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is undertaken with magnetotail and ground observations by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission on 18 March 2009 and 3 April 2009 (Kp ~ 0), and on 16 February 2008 and 24 February 2010 (Kp ~ 2–3). During the time of interest, THEMIS probes at −8RE > XGSM > −20RE and 5RE > YGSM > −5RE observed earth-bound flow bursts accompanied by magnetic dipolarizations varying in two stages. The keograms and all sky images close to their footprints showed two consecutive auroral breakups of which the first appeared at lower latitudes than the second. The ground-based magnetometers sensed magnetic bays and perturbations resulting from the formation of substorm current wedge. Two consecutive pulsations in the Pi2-Ps6 band period occurred simultaneously from high to low and very low latitudes. They appeared in the same cycle of growth and then decline in Kyoto-AL. The onset timing of ground pulsations mapped to the solar wind observation just in front of Earth’s magnetopause shows their occurrence under an IMF variation cycle of north-to-south and then north. Their dynamic spectrums have the spectral features of double substorm onsets triggered by northward IMF turning. Hence in response to IMF variations, double substorm onsets can be characterized with two-stage magnetic dipolarizations in the magnetotail, two auroral breakups of which the first occurring at lower latitudes than the second, and two consecutive Pi2-Ps6 band pulsations.

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Scattering of field-aligned beam ions upstream of Earth's bow shock

Annales Geophysicae ◽

10.5194/angeo-25-785-2007 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 785-799 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

A. Kis ◽

M. Scholer ◽

B. Klecker ◽

H. Kucharek ◽

E. A. Lucek ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Wind ◽

Field Measurements ◽

Bow Shock ◽

Ion Distribution ◽

Parallel Side ◽

Earth’S Bow Shock ◽

High Mach ◽

The Magnetic Field

Abstract. Field-aligned beams are known to originate from the quasi-perpendicular side of the Earth's bow shock, while the diffuse ion population consists of accelerated ions at the quasi-parallel side of the bow shock. The two distinct ion populations show typical characteristics in their velocity space distributions. By using particle and magnetic field measurements from one Cluster spacecraft we present a case study when the two ion populations are observed simultaneously in the foreshock region during a high Mach number, high solar wind velocity event. We present the spatial-temporal evolution of the field-aligned beam ion distribution in front of the Earth's bow shock, focusing on the processes in the deep foreshock region, i.e. on the quasi-parallel side. Our analysis demonstrates that the scattering of field-aligned beam (FAB) ions combined with convection by the solar wind results in the presence of lower-energy, toroidal gyrating ions at positions deeper in the foreshock region which are magnetically connected to the quasi-parallel bow shock. The gyrating ions are superposed onto a higher energy diffuse ion population. It is suggested that the toroidal gyrating ion population observed deep in the foreshock region has its origins in the FAB and that its characteristics are correlated with its distance from the FAB, but is independent on distance to the bow shock along the magnetic field.

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Cellular automata model of magnetospheric-ionospheric coupling

Annales Geophysicae ◽

10.5194/angeo-21-1931-2003 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 21 (9) ◽

pp. 1931-1938 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

B. V. Kozelov ◽

T. V. Kozelova

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Wind ◽

Cellular Automata ◽

Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽

Control Parameter ◽

Energy Content ◽

Nonlinear Phenomena ◽

Cellular Automata Model ◽

The Earth ◽

Magnetospheric Tail

Abstract. We propose a cellular automata model (CAM) to describe the substorm activity of the magnetospheric-ionospheric system. The state of each cell in the model is described by two numbers that correspond to the energy content in a region of the current sheet in the magnetospheric tail and to the conductivity of the ionospheric domain that is magnetically connected with this region. The driving force of the system is supposed to be provided by the solar wind that is convected along the two boundaries of the system. The energy flux inside is ensured by the penetration of the energy from the solar wind into the array of cells (magnetospheric tail) with a finite velocity. The third boundary (near to the Earth) is closed and the fourth boundary is opened, thereby modeling the flux far away from the tail. The energy dissipation in the system is quite similar to other CAM models, when the energy in a particular cell exceeds some pre-defined threshold, and the part of the energy excess is redistributed between the neighbouring cells. The second number attributed to each cell mimics ionospheric conductivity that can allow for a part of the energy to be shed on field-aligned currents. The feedback between "ionosphere" and "magnetospheric tail" is provided by the change in a part of the energy, which is redistributed in the tail when the threshold is surpassed. The control parameter of the model is the z-component of the interplanetary magnetic field (Bz IMF), "frozen" into the solar wind. To study the internal dynamics of the system at the beginning, this control parameter is taken to be constant. The dynamics of the system undergoes several bifurcations, when the constant varies from - 0.6 to - 6.0. The Bz IMF input results in the periodic transients (activation regions) and the inter-transient period decreases with the decrease of Bz. At the same time the onset of activations in the array shifts towards the "Earth". When the modulus of the Bz IMF exceeds some threshold value, the transition takes place from periodic to chaotic dynamics. In the second part of the work we have chosen as the source the real values of the z-component of the interplanetary magnetic field taken from satellite observations. We have shown that in this case the statistical properties of the transients reproduce the characteristic features observed by Lui et al. (2000).Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions) – Space plasma physics (nonlinear phenomena)

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Azimuthally asymmetric ring current as a function of Dst and solar wind conditions

Annales Geophysicae ◽

10.5194/angeo-22-2989-2004 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 22 (8) ◽

pp. 2989-2996 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Y. P. Maltsev ◽

A. A. Ostapenko

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Wind ◽

Spatial Distribution ◽

Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽

Ring Current ◽

Dynamic Pressure ◽

Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure ◽

Magnetic Data ◽

Under Five ◽

Solar Wind Parameters

Abstract. Based on magnetic data, spatial distribution of the westward ring current flowing at |z|<3 RE has been found under five levels of Dst, five levels of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) z component, and five levels of the solar wind dynamic pressure Psw. The maximum of the current is located near midnight at distances 5 to 7 RE. The magnitude of the nightside and dayside parts of the westward current at distances from 4 to 9 RE can be approximated as Inight=1.75-0.041 Dst, Inoon=0.22-0.013 Dst, where the current is in MA. The relation of the nightside current to the solar wind parameters can be expressed as Inight=1.45-0.20 Bs IMF + 0.32 Psw, where BsIMF is the IMF southward component. The dayside ring current poorly correlates with the solar wind parameters.

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Venus's induced magnetosphere during active solar wind conditions at BepiColombo's Venus 1 flyby

10.5194/angeo-2021-24 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Volwerk ◽

Beatriz Sánchez-Cano ◽

Daniel Heyner ◽

Sae Aizawa ◽

Nicolas André ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Wind ◽

Coronal Mass Ejection ◽

Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽

Bow Shock ◽

Gravity Assist ◽

Highly Active ◽

Field Lines ◽

Mass Ejection ◽

The Magnetic Field

Abstract. Out of the two Venus flybys that BepiColombo uses as a gravity assist manoeuvre to finally arrive at Mercury, the first took place on 15 October 2020. After passing the bow shock, the spacecraft travelled along the induced magnetotail, crossing it mainly in the YVSO-direction. In this paper, the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter Magnetometer (MPO-MAG) data are discussed, with support from three other plasma instruments: the Planetary Ion Camera (PICAM), the Mercury Electron Analyser (MEA) and the radiation monitor (BERM). Behind the bow shock crossing, the magnetic field showed a draping pattern consistent with field lines connected to the interplanetary magnetic field wrapping around the planet. This flyby showed a highly active magnetotail, with, e.g., strong flapping motions at a period of ~7 min. This activity was driven by solar wind conditions. Just before this flyby, Venus's induced magnetosphere was impacted by a stealth coronal mass ejection, of which the trailing side was still interacting with it during the flyby. This flyby is a unique opportunity to study the full length and structure of the induced magnetotail of Venus, indicating that the tail was most likely still present at about 48 Venus radii.

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Evidence for transient, local ion foreshocks caused by dayside magnetopause reconnection

Annales Geophysicae ◽

10.5194/angeo-34-943-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 34 (11) ◽

pp. 943-959 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Yann Pfau-Kempf ◽

Heli Hietala ◽

Steve E. Milan ◽

Liisa Juusola ◽

Sanni Hoilijoki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Solar Wind ◽

Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽

Ion Beams ◽

Bow Shock ◽

Flux Transfer Events ◽

Dayside Magnetopause ◽

Flux Transfer ◽

Push Out ◽

Magnetopause Reconnection

Abstract. We present a scenario resulting in time-dependent behaviour of the bow shock and transient, local ion reflection under unchanging solar wind conditions. Dayside magnetopause reconnection produces flux transfer events driving fast-mode wave fronts in the magnetosheath. These fronts push out the bow shock surface due to their increased downstream pressure. The resulting bow shock deformations lead to a configuration favourable to localized ion reflection and thus the formation of transient, travelling foreshock-like field-aligned ion beams. This is identified in two-dimensional global magnetospheric hybrid-Vlasov simulations of the Earth's magnetosphere performed using the Vlasiator model (http://vlasiator.fmi.fi). We also present observational data showing the occurrence of dayside reconnection and flux transfer events at the same time as Geotail observations of transient foreshock-like field-aligned ion beams. The spacecraft is located well upstream of the foreshock edge and the bow shock, during a steady southward interplanetary magnetic field and in the absence of any solar wind or interplanetary magnetic field perturbations. This indicates the formation of such localized ion foreshocks.

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