Physics
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agusmsm21a..07s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2009, abstract #SM21A-07
Physics
2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions (2431), 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, 2788 Magnetic Storms And Substorms (7954), 2790 Substorms
Scientific paper
We suggest that substorm onset is the result of Alfvenic interactions in the global current system including the tail and magnetopause current sheets as well as the auroral field-aligned current system. During the growth phase, Alfvenic interaction between the solar wind and magnetosphere occurs in multiple localized regions throughout the magnetopause current sheets and stresses the tail current sheet, leaving it susceptible to further dynamical processes that often involve the generation of MHD waves and wave mode conversion. The decrease of momentum transfer from the solar wind into the magnetosphere due to changes in solar wind parameters leads to a force imbalance in the whole magnetotail which may cause plasma flows and excite fast mode waves. These waves interact with the stressed current sheet and cause the breakdown of the frozen-in condition and the perturbations of fields and flows in multiple localized regions throughout the tail current sheet. During these processes and the further reconfiguration of the plasma sheet, Alfven waves carrying field aligned currents can be generated which lead to the subsequent substorm auroral development in the global M-I coupling system seen in the expansion phase. Unlike the CD or NENL (Rx) models, where substorm onset is assumed to be the result of a simple causal chain of events, this alternative Alfvenic interaction scenario suggests the substorm onset results from coupled dynamical processes in a driven system that may follow a more complicated temporal sequence. Recent results of a statistical study of timing sequences of substorms using THEMIS observations, are consistent, to some extent, with the suggested Alfvénic interactions in the global current system.
Lin Nan
Lysak Robert L.
Song Yushu
No associations
LandOfFree
Global Alfvenic Interaction and Substorm Onset does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Global Alfvenic Interaction and Substorm Onset, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Global Alfvenic Interaction and Substorm Onset will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1108903