A statistical study of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet and the net convection potential as a function of geomagnetic activity

Details A statistical study of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet and the net convection potential as a function of geomagnetic activity A statistical study of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet and the net convection potential as a function of geomagnetic activity

Jun 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011jgra..11606215j&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 116, Issue A6, CiteID A06215

Physics

1

Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetosphere: Inner, Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Convection (2463), Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Sheet, Magnetospheric Physics: Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

A widely accepted explanation of the location of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet and its dependence on electron energy is based on drift motions of individual particles. The boundary is identified as the separatrix between drift trajectories linking the tail to the dayside magnetopause (open paths) and trajectories closed around the Earth. A statistical study of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet using THEMIS Electrostatic Analyzer plasma data from November 2007 to April 2009 enabled us to examine this model. Using a dipole magnetic field and a Volland-Stern electric field with shielding, we find that a steady state drift boundary model represents the average location of the electron plasma sheet boundary and reflects its variation with the solar wind electric field in the local time region between 21:00 and 06:00, except at high activity levels. However, the model does not reproduce the observed energy dispersion of the boundaries. We have also used the location of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet to parameterize the potential drop of the tail convection electric field as a function of solar wind electric field (Esw) and geomagnetic activity. The range of Esw examined is small because the data were acquired near solar minimum. For the range of values tested (meaningful statistics only for Esw < 2 mV/m), reasonably good agreement is found between the potential drop of the tail convection electric field inferred from the location of the inner edge and the polar cap potential drop calculated from the model of Boyle et al. (1997).

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