Field-line mapping of the near-Earth plasma sheet based on the plasma pressure information obtained by GEOTAIL

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, 2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2744 Magnetotail, 2764 Plasma Sheet

Scientific paper

The magnetic field line mapping of the magnetotail is a very important issue since physical interpretaion of any correlatinal studies between ionospheric phenomena (e.g. auroral break up) and magnetospheric phenomena (e.g. fast plasma flows) is directly affected by the field-line mapping. We here present a unique method to trace field lines from plasma measurements in the magnetotail. The plasma pressure balance equation tells us that the plasma pressure should be constant along the field lines since the JxB force counterbalancing the pressure gradient is perpendicular to the magnetic field. Therefore the contour lines of constant plasma pressure in the x-z plane of the magnetotail represent the magentic field lines themselves. Based on this idea, we have analyzed the average plasma pressure distribution in the magnetotail using 10 years data from GEOTAIL, for various conditions of solar wind/IMF parameters including IMF Bz polarity. The result indicates a quantitative difference in the latitude-eauatorial distance relationship, i.e., in the degree of stretching of field lines for different polarities of IMF. We emphasize that this is the first time that the large-scale configuration of magnetic field lines is deduced without introducing any model parameters. Our method is also unique in that it is based on plasma data only. We will comment on the consistency/inconsistency of our result with the Tyganenko field models.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Field-line mapping of the near-Earth plasma sheet based on the plasma pressure information obtained by GEOTAIL does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Field-line mapping of the near-Earth plasma sheet based on the plasma pressure information obtained by GEOTAIL, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Field-line mapping of the near-Earth plasma sheet based on the plasma pressure information obtained by GEOTAIL will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1465407

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.