Energetics of the magnetosphere

Details Energetics of the magnetosphere Energetics of the magnetosphere

Sep 1984

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1984ssrv...39..193s&link_type=abstract

Space Science Reviews (ISSN 0038-6308), vol. 39, Sept.-Oct. 1984, p. 193-213. Previously announced in STAR as N84-23041.

Physics

24

Earth Magnetosphere, Energy Transfer, Magnetic Storms, Magnetopause, Solar Wind, Auroras, Birkeland Currents, Magnetic Disturbances, Magnetic Flux, Plasmas (Physics), Upper Atmosphere

Scientific paper

The approximate magnitudes of power inputs and energies associated with the earth's magnetosphere were derived. The nearest 40 RE of the plasma sheet current receive some 3.10 to the 11th power watt, and much of this goes to the Birkeland currents, which require 1-3 10 to the 11th power watt. Of that energy, about 30 percent appears as the energy of auroral particles and most of the rest as ionosphere joule heating. The ring current contains about 10 to the 15th power joule at quiet times, several times as much during magnetic storms, and the magnetic energy stored in the tall lobes is comparable. Substorm energy releases may range at 1.5 to 30 10 to the 11th power watt. Compared to these, the local energy release rate by magnetic merging in the magnetosphere is small. Merging is essential for the existence of open field lines, which make such inputs possible. Merging also seems to be implicated in substorms: most of the released energy only becomes evident far from the merging region, though some particles may gain appreciable energy in that region itself, if the plasma sheet is squeezed out completely and the high latitude lobes interact directly.

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