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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: Observations of the three-dimensional velocity distributions of positive ions and electrons have been recently gained for the first time in Earth's distant magnetotail with the Galileo and Geotail spacecraft. For this brief discussion of these exciting results the focus is on the overall character of the ion velocity distributions during substorm activity. The ion velocity distributions within and near the magnetotail current sheet are not accurately described as convecting, isotropic Maxwellians. The observed velocity distributions are characterized by at least two robust types. The first type is similar to the 'lima bean'-shaped velocity distributions that are expected from the nonadiabatic acceleration of ions which execute Speiser-type trajectories in the current sheet. The second distribution is associated with the presence of cold ion beams that presumably also arise from the acceleration of plasma mantle ions in the electric and weak magnetic fields in the current sheet. The ion velocity distributions in a magnetic field structure that is similar to that for plasmoids are also examined. Again the velocity distributions are not Maxwellian but are indicative of nonadiabatic acceleration. An example of the pressure tensor within the plasmoid-like event is also presented because it is anticipated that the off-diagonal elements are important in a description of magnetotail dynamics. Thus our concept of magnetotail dynamics must advance from the present assumption of co-moving electron and ion Maxwellian distributions into reformulations in terms of global kinematical models and nonadiabatic particle motion.
    Keywords: Geophysics
    Type: NASA-CR-200300 , NAS 1.26:200300 , Second International Conference on Substorms; Jan 01, 1994; Fairbanks, AK; United States
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: We report on a series of quasi-periodic reversals in GSM B(sub Z) observed by the four Cluster spacecraft in the northern dayside lobe poleward of the cusp on 23 February 2001. During an interval of about 35 min, multiple reversals (negative to positive) in B(sub Z) of approximately 1-min duration with an approximate 8-min recurrence time were observed. The individual structures do not resemble low-latitude flux transfer events (FTE) [Russell and Elphic, 1979] but the 8-min recurrence frequency suggests that intermittent reconnection may be occurring .Measurements (appropriately lagged) of the solar wind at ACE show that the IMF was southward-oriented with a strong B(sub X) and that a modest dynamic pressure increased as the events started. The multi-point observations afforded by the Cluster spacecraft were used to infer the motion (direction and speed) of the observed magnetic field reversals. The associated currents were also calculated and they are consistent with the spatial confinement of the observed magnetic field reversals. We propose that the observed reversals are due to flux tubes reconnecting with closed field lines on the dayside. Ancillary data from the Cluster Ion Spectrometry (CIS) and Plasma Electron And Current Experiment (PEACE) instruments were used to develop a physical picture of the reversals.
    Keywords: Geophysics
    Type: Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227); 109
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: We use the first accurate measurements of current densities in the plasma sheet to calculate the half-thickness and position of the current sheet as a function of time. Our technique assumes a Harris current sheet model, which is parameterized by lobe magnetic field B(o), current sheet half-thickness h, and current sheet position z(sub o). Cluster measurements of magnetic field, current density, and plasma pressure are used to infer the three parameters as a function of time. We find that most long timescale (6-12 hours) current sheet crossings observed by Cluster cannot be described by a static Harris current sheet with a single set of parameters B(sub o), h, and z(sub o). Noting the presence of high-frequency fluctuations that appear to be superimposed on lower frequency variations, we average over running 6-min intervals and use the smoothed data to infer the parameters h(t) and z(sub o)(t), constrained by the pressure balance lobe magnetic field B(sub o)(t). Whereas this approach has been used in previous studies, the spatial gnuhen& now provided by the Cluster magnetometers were unavailable or not well constrained in earlier studies. We place the calculated hdf&cknessa in a magnetospheric context by examining the change in thickness with substorm phase for three case study events and 21 events in a superposed epoch analysis. We find that the inferred half-thickness in many cases reflects the nominal changes experienced by the plasma sheet during substorms (i.e., thinning during growth phase, thickening following substorm onset). We conclude with an analysis of the relative contribution of (Delta)B(sub z)/(Delta)X to the cross-tail current density during substorms. We find that (Delta)B(sub z)/(Delta)X can contribute a significant portion of the cross-tail c m n t around substorm onset.
    Keywords: Geophysics
    Type: Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227); 110
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: The large scale structure of the current sheet in the terrestrial magnetotail is often represented as the superposition of a constant northward-oriented magnetic field component (B(sub z)) and a component along the Earth-Sun direction (B(sub x)) that varies with distance from the center of the sheet (z(sub o) in GSM) as in a Hams neutral sheet. The latter implies that B(sub x) = B(sub Lx) tanh((z - z(sub o))/h) where B(sub Lx) is the magnitude of the B(sub x) component in the northern lobe. Correspondingly, the cross-tail current should be approximated by J(sub y) = (B(sub Lx)/h) sech(sup 2)((z - z(sub o))/h). Using data from the fluxgate magnetometer (FGM) on the Cluster I1 spacecraft tetrad, we have used measured fields and currents to ask if this model represents the large-scale properties of the system. During very quiet crossings of the plasmasheet, we find that the model gives a reasonable estimate of the trend of the average current and field distributions, but during disturbed intervals, the best fit fails to represent the data. If, however, the parameters z(sub o) and h of the model are taken as variable functions of time, the fits can be reasonably good. The temporal variation of the fit parameter h that characterizes the thickness of the current sheet can be interpreted in terms of thinning during the growth phase of a substorm and thickening following the expansion phase. Ground signatures that give insight into the local time of substorm onset can be used to interpret the response of the plasmasheet to substorm related changes of the global system. During a substorm, the field magnitude in the central plasmasheet fluctuates at the period of Pi2 pulsations.
    Keywords: Geophysics
    Type: Advances in Space Research (ISSN 0273-1177); 36; 1818-1824
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: Cluster fluxgate magnetometer (FGM) and ion spectrometer (CIS) data are employed to analyze magnetic field fluctuations within the plasma sheet during passages through the magnetotail region in the summers of 2001 and 2002 and, in particular, to look for characteristics of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. Power spectral indices determined from power spectral density functions are on average larger than Kolmogorov's theoretical value for fluid turbulence as well as Kraichnan's theoretical value for MHD plasma turbulence. Probability distribution functions of the magnetic fluctuations show a scaling law over a large range of temporal scales with non-Gaussian distributions at small dissipative scales and inertial scales and more Gaussian distribution at large driving scales. Furthermore, a multifractal analysis of the magnetic field components shows scaling behavior in the inertial range of the fluctuations from about 20 s to 13 min for moments through the fifth order. Both the scaling behavior of the probability distribution functions and the multifractal structure function suggest that intermittent turbulence is present within the plasma sheet. The unique multispacecraft aspect and fortuitous spacecraft spacing allow us to examine the turbulent eddy scale sizes. Dynamic autocorrelation and cross correlation analysis of the magnetic field components allow us to determine that eddy scale sizes fit within the plasma sheet. These results suggest that magnetic field turbulence is occurring within the plasma sheet resulting in turbulent energy dissipation.
    Keywords: Geophysics
    Type: Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227); 110
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: On August 22, 2001 all 4 Cluster spacecraft nearly simultaneously penetrated a magnetic flux rope in the tail. The flux rope encounter took place in the central plasma sheet, Beta(sub i) approx. 1-2, near the leading edge of a bursty bulk flow. The "time-of-flight" of the flux rope across the 4 spacecraft yielded V(sub x) approx. 700 km/s and a diameter of approx.1 R(sub e). The speed at which the flux rope moved over the spacecraft is in close agreement with the Cluster plasma measurements. The magnetic field profiles measured at each spacecraft were first modeled separately using the Lepping-Burlaga force-free flux rope model. The results indicated that the center of the flux rope passed northward (above) s/c 3, but southward (below) of s/c 1, 2 and 4. The peak electric currents along the central axis of the flux rope predicted by these single-s/c models were approx.15-19 nA/sq m. The 4-spacecraft Cluster magnetic field measurements provide a second means to determine the electric current density without any assumption regarding flux rope structure. The current profile determined using the curlometer technique was qualitatively similar to those determined by modeling the individual spacecraft magnetic field observations and yielded a peak current density of 17 nA/m2 near the central axis of the rope. However, the curlometer results also showed that the flux rope was not force-free with the component of the current density perpendicular to the magnetic field exceeding the parallel component over the forward half of the rope, perhaps due to the pressure gradients generated by the collision of the BBF with the inner magnetosphere. Hence, while the single-spacecraft models are very successful in fitting flux rope magnetic field and current variations, they do not provide a stringent test of the force-free condition.
    Keywords: Geophysics
    Type: Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276); 30; 7; 14-1 - 14-4
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