In Situ Estimates of Auroral Current Sheet Structure and Dynamics Using Three-Point ST5 Magnetometer Observations

Details In Situ Estimates of Auroral Current Sheet Structure and Dynamics Using Three-Point ST5 Magnetometer Observations In Situ Estimates of Auroral Current Sheet Structure and Dynamics Using Three-Point ST5 Magnetometer Observations

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsm11a0301s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SM11A-0301

Physics

2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 2721 Field-Aligned Currents And Current Systems (2409), 2794 Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

We use three-point magnetometer observations from the Space Technology 5 (ST5) mission to resolve the spatial structure and temporal variability of auroral current sheets. Space plasma phenomena are inherently time-dependent and structured, yet space and time become inextricably mixed when sampled with a single orbiting spacecraft. Multi-spacecraft missions, such as Cluster, have demonstrated the scientific value of separating spatial and temporal variability as a means for answering basic questions about the physics of the magnetopause and plasma sheet. In the auroral zone, despite the remarkable advances made by the FAST satellite, similar basic questions about the structure and dynamics of auroral phenomena have remained unanswered owing to limitations of single spacecraft measurements. Such questions are now addressable, owing to the new coordinated, multi-spacecraft observations made by the three co-orbiting ST5 satellites. Between March and June of 2006, three identical ST5 satellites in a near-polar orbit collected high-resolution magnetometer data at approximately 4500km altitude, orbiting in a string-of-pearls configuration, and passing through auroral current sheet structures sequentially. In this paper, through multipoint time series analysis, we use low-altitude ST5 magnetometer observations to probe the spatial structure and temporal evolution of auroral currents. We compare data-derived characteristic length and time scales with those predicted theoretically (c.f., Cornwall, 1990; Borovsky, 1993) for the structure and dynamics of auroral current sheets.

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