ALBERT

Description: [1]  Estimates are calculated for the storm-time reduction of solar-wind/magnetosphere coupling by the mass density ρ m of the magnetospheric plasma. Based on the application of the Cassak-Shay reconnection-rate formula at the dayside magnetopause, a numerical factor M is developed to quantify the effect of ρ m on the dayside reconnection rate. It is argued that the mass loading of dayside reconnection by ρ m also makes reconnection more susceptible to shutoff by magnetosheath velocity shear: a formula is developed to estimate the shortening of the dayside reconnection X-line by ρ m . Surveys of plasmaspheric drainage plumes at geosynchronous orbit during high-speed-stream-driven storms and CME-driven storms are presented: in the surveys the CME-driven storms are separated into sheath-driven portions and magnetic-cloud-driven portions. The stormtime mass density of the warm plasma cloak (ionospheric outflows into the electron plasma sheet) is obtained from Alfven-wave analysis at geosynchronous orbit. A methodology is developed to extrapolate geosynchronous-orbit plasma measurements to the dayside magnetopause. For each of the three plasmas, estimates of the fractional reduction of the total dayside reconnection rate vary, with typical values of 10's of percent. I.e. solar-wind/magnetosphere coupling is reduced by 10's of percent during storms by oxygen in the ion plasma sheet, by the plasmaspheric drainage plume, and by the plasma cloak. Dependence of the reduction on the F10.7 solar radio flux is anticipated. Via these ionospheric-origin plasmas, the magnetosphere can exert some control over solar-wind/magnetosphere coupling. Pathways to gain a fuller understanding of the physics of the solar-wind-driven magnetosphere-ionosphere system are discussed.

Description: [1]  An inversion technique for estimating the properties of the magnetospheric plasma from the harmonic frequencies of the toroidal standing Alfvén waves has been used to derive the global equatorial mass density covering radial distances from 4 to 9 Earth radii ( R E ), within the local time sector spanning from 0300 to 1900 hours. This broad range of L shell extending to the outer magnetosphere allows us to examine the local time and radial dependence of the quiet-time equatorial mass density during solar minimum and thereby construct a global distribution of the equatorial mass density. The toroidal Alfvén waves were detected with magnetometers on the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE)/Charge Composition Explorer (CCE) during the nearly 5 year interval from August 1984 to January 1989 and on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) (10, 11 and 12) for 2 years from 2007 to 2008, both of which were operating during solar minimum years. The derived equatorial mass density, ρ eq , at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) monotonically increases with increasing magnetic local time (MLT) from the nightside towards the dusk sector. At other radial distances, ρ eq has the same MLT variation as that of GEO, while the magnitude logarithmically decreases with increasing L value. An investigation of the Dst and Kp dependence shows that the median value of ρ eq varies little in the daytime sector during moderately disturbed times, which agrees with previous studies. ρ eq calculated from the F 10.7 dependent empirical model shows good agreement with that of CCE but overestimates that of GOES probably due to the extreme solar cycle minimum in years 2007–2008.

Description: Electron measurements on board six spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit are superposed-epoch analyzed for 42 high-speed-stream-driven storms. Using pitch angle–resolved fluxes in the range 30 keV to 1.7 MeV, the evolution of the outer electron radiation belt and the suprathermal tail of the electron plasma sheet are studied. The outer electron radiation belt exhibits perpendicular-dominated anisotropies on the dayside and parallel-dominated anisotropies on the nightside consistent with shell splitting in a distorted magnetosphere. The magnitudes of the radiation-belt anisotropies are weak prior to storm onset and become very large during the storms. The magnitudes of the anisotropies lessen with time as the storm ages and the radiation belt heats, probably owing to a weakening of the magnetic field distortion as the storm ages. When a calm before the storm occurs, the dayside radiation belt approaches isotropy, probably owing to pitch angle scattering in the outer plasmasphere that fills during the calm. If no calm before the storm occurs, the dayside radiation belt is strongly perpendicular dominated. The local-time pattern of anisotropy in storms is very different for the suprathermal tail of the electron plasma sheet, which tends to be perpendicular on the nightside and isotropic elsewhere. The magnitudes of the anisotropies of the suprathermal tail are a factor of ∼10 weaker than the anisotropies of the outer electron radiation belt.

Description: [1]  Forecasting the carbon uptake potential of terrestrial ecosystems in the face of future climate change has proven challenging. Process models, which have been increasingly used to study ecosystem-atmosphere carbon and water exchanges when conditioned with tower-based eddy covariance data, have the potential to inform us about biogeochemical processes in future climate regimes; but, only if we can reconcile the spatial and temporal scales used for observed fluxes and projected climate. Here, we used weather generator and ecosystem process models conditioned on observed weather dynamics and carbon/water fluxes, and embedded them within climate projections from a suite of six Earth Systems Models (ESMs). Using this combination of models we studied carbon cycle processes in a subalpine forest within the context of future (2080-2099) climate regimes. The assimilation of daily-averaged, observed net ecosystem CO 2 exchange (NEE) and evapotranspiration (ET) into the ecosystem process model resulted in retrieval of projected NEE with a level of accuracy that was similar to that following the assimilation of half-daily averaged observations; the assimilation of 30-minute averaged fluxes or monthly-averaged fluxes caused degradation in the model's capacity to accurately simulate seasonal patterns in observed NEE. Using daily-averaged flux data with daily-averaged weather data projected for the period 2080-2099, we predicted greater forest net CO 2 uptake in response to a lengthening of the growing season. These results contradict our previous observations of reduced CO 2 uptake in response to longer growing seasons in the current (1999-2008) climate regime. The difference between these analyses is due to a projected increase in the frequency of rain versus snow during warmer winters of the future. Our results demonstrate the sensitivity of modeled processes to local variation in meteorology, which is often left unresolved in traditional approaches to earth systems modeling, and the importance of maintaining similarity in the time scales used in ecosystem process models driven by downscaled climate projections.

Description: The whistler anisotropy instability is driven by an electron temperature anisotropy T⊥/T∥ 〉 1 where ⊥ and ∥ denote directions perpendicular and parallel, respectively, to the background magnetic field Bo. Here kinetic linear theory in a magnetized, homogeneous, collisionless plasma model is used to study this instability when the electron velocity distribution may be represented as the sum of a hot, anisotropic bi-Maxwellian and a cold, isotropic component. The critical β∥e, the value at which the maximum growth rate of the instability changes from propagation parallel to Bo to oblique propagation, decreases with increasing nc/ne, where nc is the cold electron density and ne is the total electron density. At parallel propagation the maximum growth rate increases with nc/ne up to nc/ne ≃ 0.8, but then diminishes with further increases of the relative cold electron density. Introduction of a cold electron component can reduce the hot electron anisotropy necessary to excite this instability by up to a factor of 2.

Description: We present an epoch analysis of energetic (〉30 keV) electron precipitation during 173 high speed solar wind streams (HSS) using riometer observations of cosmic noise absorption (CNA) as a proxy for the precipitation. The arrival of the co-rotating interaction region (CIR) prior to stream onset, elevates the precipitation which then peaks some 12 h after stream arrival. Precipitation continues for several days following the HSS arrival. The MLT distribution of CNA is generally consistent with the statistical pattern explained via the substorm process, though the statistical deep minimum of CNA/precipitation does change during the HSS suggesting increased precipitation in the 15–20 MLT sector. The level of precipitation is strongly controlled by the average state of the IMF BZ component on the day prior to the arrival of the stream interface. An average negative IMF BZ will produce higher CNA across all L-shells and MLT, up to 100% higher than an average positive IMF BZ.

Description: Much attention has been focused on the reaction of the magnetosphere to the solar wind during the recent extended solar minimum (2006–2010). Although this period was exceptionally quiet when categorized by some parameters (e.g., the number of sunspots) the solar wind still contained features which impacted the Earth's magnetosphere and caused geomagnetic disturbances. Recurrent corotating interaction regions (CIRs) and associated high-speed solar wind streams (HSSs) are typically associated with the declining phase of the solar cycle and were a regular feature of the solar wind during the most recent solar minimum. Here we compare and contrast strong and weak HSSs in the solar wind and their subsequent effect within the Earth's magnetosphere. We find significant differences between strong and weak HSS effects in the plasmasphere, in the ion and electron plasma sheets, and in the outer electron radiation belt. A density-temperature description of the outer radiation belt is shown to shed light on why the radiation belt flux is observed to return at a higher level after the arrival of strong HSSs than before strong HSSs and why the flux is observed to return at a lower level after the arrival of weak HSSs than before weak HSSs.

Description: While the average ion mass M (normalized to amu) of bulk plasma at geosynchronous orbit has been calculated at solar maximum (during the era of the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES)), the solar cycle dependence of bulk ion composition at geosynchronous orbit is not known. Here, we use measurements of mass density ρm from Alfvén wave frequencies measured by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites and ion density measurements by the Magnetospheric Particle Analyzer (MPA) on Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) spacecraft to establish the solar cycle dependence of bulk ion composition. We show that there is a strong correlation between the yearly median value of ρm, ρm,yr−med, and the yearly average of the solar EUV flux F10.7, F10.7,yr−av; log10(ρm,yr−med) $\simeq$ 0.5089 + 0.003607F10.7,yr−av (for ρm values adjusted to a magnetic latitude MLAT of 8°). We calibrate the measurements of the MPA instrument on one spacecraft to those from another by using yearly median density values. Then, using close conjunctions of LANL spacecraft with CRRES (for which we have inferred values of ρm and ne), we calibrate the ideal theoretical value of MPA ion density nMPA−th (the value that MPA would measure if it measured all the ions) to the observed values directly measured by the instrument, nMPA−obs. We find that nMPA−th is approximately 1.47 times the value of nMPA−obs measured by the LANL 1994 spacecraft. Using the yearly median values of ρm as a function of F10.7, the yearly median values of nMPA−th from the MPA instruments, and a model for the concentration of He+, we are able to calculate the solar cycle dependence of the average ion mass M and the O+ concentration ηO+ ≡ nO+/ne. We find that M is typically ∼3.8 at solar maximum and near unity at solar minimum. Typical values of ηO+ vary by 2 orders of magnitude over the solar cycle, from about 0.2 at solar maximum to ∼2 × 10−3 at solar minimum. Furthermore, our results also demonstrate that the typical concentration of He+ must also be very low at solar minimum. Since the median yearly values of density are low, characteristic of the plasma trough, our results are most applicable to that region. Considering, however, that the plasmasphere and plume typically have a low concentration of O+, the concentration of O+ at geosynchronous orbit at solar minimum is likely to be low for all conditions (with the possible exception of very low densities for which the high-energy component might dominate).