Physics
Scientific paper
Jan 1967
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1967jatp...29...87p&link_type=abstract
Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 87-105
Physics
4
Scientific paper
An earlier model of the distant geomagnetic field had a long tail into which field lines were driven by frictional interaction between the co-rotating magnetosphere and the solar plasma. Observational data are interpreted here to show that the total magnetic flux in the tail varies by a factor of two or more. These data comprise direct measurements of the tail field strength, measurements of the high-latitude boundary of trapped electrons, observations of large expansions and contractions of the [`]auroral oval' during magnetic storms and finally the complex patterns of polar ionospheric electric currents and auroral drift motions. Change in tail flux requires flow of field lines to and from the tail and to the latter are attributed visual auroras, the geomagnetic ring current and some changing patterns of the ionospheric current system. Field lines in the tail reconnect across a [`]neutral sheet', converting magnetic to particle kinetic energy E [similar, less] 1 keV; the lines then contract elastically towards the Earth. Particles with small pitch angles are further accelerated mainly along the field lines and are precipitated into the ionosphere to cause auroras. Particles having large pitch angles are also accelerated but remain trapped and move deep into the magnetosphere to replenish the outer trapping zone and form a ring current. They cause electric polarization which changes the ionospheric current system and drift pattern and may explain low-latitude red arcs and the asymmetric pattern of ionospheric blackouts. [`]Explosions' or [`]flares' occur in the tail by virtue of the finite-conductivity instability of the long-wave [`]tearing' mode. These may explain the explosive auroral-geomagnetic substorm and the observed [`]islands' of trapped energetic electrons. A quantitative discussion is given.
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