Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufmsm12b..02r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #SM12B-02
Physics
2724 Magnetopause, Cusp, And Boundary Layers, 2760 Plasma Convection, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
The high-altitude cusp is the region of principal particle entry into the magnetosphere. However, that entry can be quite turbulent and time-dependent, especially when observed at high altitudes. A clean single ion energy-versus-latitude dispersion is observed at low-to-mid-altitudes when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is steady and southward; however, changes in the magnetic field direction or particle pressure can result in multiple injection signatures when observed from low altitudes. In addition, during times with the IMF has a strong dawn-dusk component, a single hemisphere can observe precipitation from merging sites in both hemispheres simultaneously, but at different locations. A spacecraft traveling through these precipitation regions could measure either a double dispersion, a V-shaped dispersion, or a "stairstep" ion dispersion, depending on the spacecraft travel direction and the flow directions. V-shaped dispersions can arise from simultaneous low- and high-latitude reconnection. New data from the Cluster mission can be used to help distinguish among various models of the double cusp. Sequential identical ion dispersions indicate predominantly spatial structures, whereas changeable structures indicate temporal variability. Electron pitch angle distributions can also be used to distinguish among the various options, since electrons exhibit an energy-versus-pitch angle dispersion only when an active X-line is crossed.
Bousqued J. M.
Goldstein Michael
Reiff Patricia H.
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