Theory and simulation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the geomagnetic tail

Details Theory and simulation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the geomagnetic tail Theory and simulation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the geomagnetic tail

Dec 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996jgr...10127327y&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 101, Issue A12, p. 27327-27340

Physics

32

Magnetospheric Physics: Mhd Waves And Instabilities, Magnetospheric Physics: Current Systems, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetotail, Magnetospheric Physics: Storms And Substorms

Scientific paper

In recent, nonlocal stability analyses of the cross-field current instability that may operate in the geomagnetic tail, it was found that the instability is suppressed when the cross-field ion flow is uniform but that the instability is restored only after a substantial velocity shear is introduced. However, the velocity shear also excites the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Therefore it is important to understand how the cross-field current instability and the shear-driven Kelvin-Helmholtz instability mutually interact and compete with the available free energy. As a first step, with the use of Hall-MHD, theory and two-dimensional simulation, this paper investigates the development of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability for a thin current sheet with sheared velocity flow. It is found that a finite north-south field at the center of the neutral sheet inhibits the growth of the Kelvin-Helmhotz instability to some extent. However, the timescale of its growth is still sufficiently short, so that this instability may play a part in broadening the thin current sheet at the time of substorm expansion onset.

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