What is the difference between a Steady Magnetospheric Convection event and a Substorm?

Details What is the difference between a Steady Magnetospheric Convection event and a Substorm? What is the difference between a Steady Magnetospheric Convection event and a Substorm?

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agusmsm23b..04h&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2009, abstract #SM23B-04

Other

2723 Magnetic Reconnection (7526, 7835), 2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2744 Magnetotail, 2760 Plasma Convection (2463), 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

All types of geomagnetic activity are associated with magnetospheric convection driven by the solar wind. Known types of activity include substorms, steady magnetospheric convection (SMC), poleward boundary intensifications, and sawtooth injection events. In the original model of reconnection the rates of dayside merging, transport over the polar caps, nightside reconnection, and return to the dayside were all balanced. However, typically one of these rates does not balance another. Which type of geomagnetic activity occurs depends on the nature of this imbalance. At the present time it is not known what causes a transition from one mode to another. Is it dependent upon solar wind input or is it controlled by internal magnetospheric processes? Is it possible that both solar wind and internal magnetospheric processes can influence dynamic behavior? Most previous studies utilize one or two satellites to investigate this problem. With the launch of THEMIS mission, we have multi-point measurements simultaneously in the magnetosphere and on the ground providing us with a good opportunity to examine this subject. In this study, we have identified several interesting intervals which included isolated substorms, a substorm to SMC transistion, and a SMC to substorm transition. A detailed comparison of solar wind, magnetotail, and ground observations provides us a good opportunity to examine the important processes (quantities) responsible for different modes of activities. A preliminary result suggests that the tail lobe energy may be a good indicator to determine whether a substorm or SMC event will develop. During a SMC event, the tail lobe energy is elevated but sustained at a high level for about an hour while the substorm shows a typical loading and unloading of tail energy. The auroral electrojets also show interesting behavior. While substorm shows typical substorm current wedge formation, it seems that SMC has a high latitude current that forms near the boundary of the polar cap. The ground Pi 2 also shows interesting results. During a SMC event, the high latitude Pi 2 is unorganized but the low-latitude Pi 2s exhibits periodic pulsation trains.

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