Definitive mapping in the late growth phase

Details Definitive mapping in the late growth phase Definitive mapping in the late growth phase

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsm54a..05s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SM54A-05

Physics

[2704] Magnetospheric Physics / Auroral Phenomena, [2740] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics

Scientific paper

The bright proton aurora is understood be the projection of the inner Central Plasma Sheet (CPS) where there is sufficient particle energy to cause auroral luminosity but still strong pitch angle scattering (presumably due to field line curvature). This region is often interpreted as the transition region between dipolar and tail-like magnetic topologies. The location of auroral features relative to the peak in the proton aurora has been used, for example, to argue that the substorm onset arc exists on field lines that thread theis transition region. We use multi-satellite measurements from THEMIS to estimate the magnetic field curvature in the late growth phase (during close proximity configurations of the THEMIS spacecraft). Together with the ESA ion spectral information, this determines if the satellite is located inside or outside of the Isotropy Boundary (IB), for a given population of ions present at the satellite location (i.e. we know which energy range of ions will be in strong pitch angle diffusion at that location). Also, using an empirically derived relationship between FAST (ElectroStatic Analyzer) ESA data and ground-based proton auroral luminosity, we convert THEMIS ESA measurements of ion flux near the loss cone to an equivalent proton auroral luminosity. We explore the consistency of these two methods for determining a satellite's location relative to the IB. We also place these events in the context of a statistical picture of the late growth phase. We demonstrate that the peak in the proton aurora intensity maps to inside of 10 Re in the late growth phase, and that even under magnetically quiet conditions, the entire bright proton auroral distribution originates inside of 15 Re.

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