Structure of the distant magnetotail and its dependence on the IMF By component: GEOTAIL observations

Details Structure of the distant magnetotail and its dependence on the IMF By component: GEOTAIL observations Structure of the distant magnetotail and its dependence on the IMF By component: GEOTAIL observations

Sep 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997adspr..20..949m&link_type=abstract

Advances in Space Research, Volume 20, Issue 4-5, p. 949-959.

Mathematics

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15

Scientific paper

Structure of the distant magnetotail (x<-150 Re) in the y-z plane is studied statistically on the basis of the plasma and magnetic field data obtained by the GEOTAIL spacecraft. In order to reduce the scatter due to time variations in the solar wind direction, a coordinate system is introduced whose x-axis is taken parallel to the hourly direction of the solar wind measured in the upstream region. Our analysis shows that the distant tail has almost the same dimension in y and z directions for average IMF conditions. In other words, there is no indication of the tail flattening along the y axis for average magnitude of IMF By. The distant tail current sheet is found to be tilted by 20 degrees on average either clockwise or anticlockwise depending on the sign of the IMF By. However, the location of the core lobe, which is defined to be the region of maximum probability of observing the lobe, is not tilted from the z axis. This means that the IMF By effect is not an overall rotation of the tail structure but involves a skewing of the internal structure. The tilt angle of the current sheet is larger when the IMF is directed northward. The large tilt angle observed for the northward IMF implies that the northward magnetic field component in the tail does not necessarily mean the closure of field lines across the current sheet; this finding thus alleviates the difficulty regarding the net tailward transport of positive Bz during quiet times raised earlier.

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