Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufmsm51d..01s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #SM51D-01
Physics
2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, 7835 Magnetic Reconnection
Scientific paper
The interaction of the solar wind with Earth's magnetosphere can result in the storage of large amounts of energy in the magnetospheric system. The rate of energy storage in the magnetosphere is related to the rate of merging of magnetic flux on the dayside of Earth. It has been known for several decades that the addition of energy to the magnetospheric system is controlled by the north/south orientation of the magnetic field in the solar wind impinging on Earth's dayside magnetosphere. However, the efficiency of energy transfer from the solar wind to the magnetosphere is not well understood as a function of magnetic field strength, orientation, solar wind plasma density, and velocity. Global auroral images acquired with the Earth Camera of the Visible Imaging System (VIS) on the Polar spacecraft are used to determine the instantaneous open polar cap magnetic flux. The poleward boundary of the auroral oval observed with the Polar/VIS Earth Camera is the location of the separatrix between the open magnetic field of the polar cap that connects to the lobes of the magnetosphere and of the closed magnetic field of the auroral zone that connects to the plasma sheet. The time rate of change of the observed open polar cap magnetic flux is the net result of magnetic merging in the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction region and reconnection in the distant magnetotail. During periods of low activity in the nightside auroral oval, the reconnection rate in the magnetotail is small and the change in the total open magnetic flux of the polar cap is a direct measure of the global rate of merging on the dayside. The results of a study to determine the dependence of the global rate of dayside magnetic merging on the magnetic field and plasma parameters in the solar wind will be presented.
Fox Nicola J.
Frank Louis A.
Sigwarth John B.
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