First IBEX Observations of the Terrestrial Plasma Sheet and a Likely Disconnection Event

Details First IBEX Observations of the Terrestrial Plasma Sheet and a Likely Disconnection Event First IBEX Observations of the Terrestrial Plasma Sheet and a Likely Disconnection Event

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm22b..03m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM22B-03

Physics

[2740] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, [2744] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetotail, [2764] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Sheet, [2784] Magnetospheric Physics / Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission has recently provided the first all-sky maps of Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) from the edge of the heliosphere as well as the first observations of ENAs from the Moon and from the nose of the magnetosphere. This study provides the first IBEX images of the night side magnetosphere and plasma sheet, as viewed from the side. We show images from two IBEX orbits - one that shows the plasma sheet mapping to a model magnetic field and a second that shows a significant intensification that can most likely be explained as a near-Earth disconnection event (see image). This event followed ~30 minutes of moderately southward IMF (Bz ~ -5nT) and occurred at a time when the IMF turned abruptly northward while the solar wind dynamic pressure simultaneously doubled. The ENA intensification indicates the simultaneous addition of both a hot (several keV) and colder component (~700 eV); the hot component may be a direct observation of the energization of plasma via reconnection.

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