Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufmsm11a0776s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #SM11A-0776
Physics
2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2768 Plasmasphere, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, 2788 Storms And Substorms
Scientific paper
Global imaging of the distribution of He+ in the plasmasphere by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager of the IMAGE mission offers new insight into the dynamics of the plasmasphere. Here we examine the way that the plasmasphere shrinks in response to increasing convection strength, a phenomenon long known to occur. EUV images confirm that the first response of the plasmasphere to increasing convection is an inward motion of the plasmaspause near midnight. The inward motion progresses nearly symmetrically toward dawn and dusk over the course of a few hours. Near midnight, the rate of motion can be 0.5--1.0~R E/hour, and changes of position from outside 6~R E to within 3~R E have been observed. The motion is typically non-uniform, progressing in steps correlated with substorm activity. In one instance, our measurements of the total He+ content of the anti-sunward half of the plasmasphere show that it decreased sharply at first, reflecting the inward motion of the plasmapause. Within a few hours, the total content began to increase, even though the size of the plasmasphere did not grow in proportion. A typical part of these events is a sharpening in the plasmapause (i.e., an increase in the steepness of the intensity gradient) in the transition from the quiet-time extended plasmasphere to the smaller plasmasphere.
Forrester William T.
King Andrew R.
Sandel Bill R.
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