Plasma Convection in the Cross-Section of the Magnetotail: Geotail Observation

Details Plasma Convection in the Cross-Section of the Magnetotail: Geotail Observation Plasma Convection in the Cross-Section of the Magnetotail: Geotail Observation

Dec 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufmsm21d..01m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #SM21D-01

Statistics

2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2744 Magnetotail, 2748 Magnetotail Boundary Layers, 2776 Polar Cap Phenomena, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

Plasma convection pattern in the cross-section of the magnetotail is derived for the first time from the archive plasma dataset of the Geotail spacecraft. In this statistics, the measured ion velocities are divided into two independent components, i.e., components parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic filed, respectively, and only the result for the perpendicular component is discussed. Since Geotail has an equatorial orbit, only the portion of the tail close to the plasma sheet has been covered by Geotail, but still the result provides sufficient information to identify some of the interesting characteristics of the plasma convection in the y-z plane. Some characteristics are consistent with the standard view of the convection in the magnetotail, but others are not readily compatible with the standard view. Important findings are as follows: (1) The plasma convection is directed from the lobe toward the plasma sheet near the midnight meridian plane as is consistent with the standard view. (2) Near the flanks of the magnetotail, however, the convection direction is reversed, that is, directed from the plasma sheet to the lobe. This means that two convection vortices are formed within the y-z plane for each hemisphere, and some of the plasmas convecting from high latitudes are deflected towards flanks before they reach the neutral sheet and finally return to the high-latitude portion of the tail along the flank magnetopause. (3) The sense of rotation for these plasma vortices is not apparently correlated with the sign of the IMF z component. That is, the plasma convection always has a component directed toward the plasma sheet near the midnight meridian even in the case of northward IMF. This probably means that the conversion process of closed field lines to open field lines is occurring at the dayside magnetopause even during periods of northward IMF. The reverse convection expected for the northward IMF seems to be spatially limited to the higher latitude portion of the tail not covered by GEOTAIL observations. (4) The effect of the y-component of the IMF is visible as an intensification of one of the two vortices, whose dawn-dusk asymmetry is controlled by IMF-By. The effect is smaller than expected, and barely visible at the distances of x=-15 to -25 Re.

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