Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufmsm22b..03w&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #SM22B-03
Physics
2700 Magnetospheric Physics, 2753 Numerical Modeling, 2760 Plasma Convection, 2764 Plasma Sheet
Scientific paper
In order to understand the evolution of the inner plasma sheet proton distributions and magnetic field under enhanced convection, we incorporate a modified version of the Magnetospheric Specification Model with a modified Tsyganenko 96 magnetic field model to self-consistently simulate protons and magnetic fields with two-dimensional force balance maintained along the midnight meridian. Proton differential fluxes are assigned to the model boundary to mimic a tail source that is a mixture of hot plasma from the distant tail and cooler plasma from the low latitude boundary layer. The source is local-time dependent and is based on Geotail observations and the results of the finite-tail-width-convection model. We previously simulated the inner plasma sheet under weak convection corresponding to a cross polar-cap potential drop (PCP) equal to 26 kV and obtained two-dimensional quiet time equilibrium for the protons and magnetic field. The results from the quiet time simulation reproduce quantitatively the general features of observed distributions of proton parameters, proton flow, and magnetic field configuration. We start our simulation for enhanced convection with the quiet time equilibrium as an initial condition and enhance convection by increasing the PCP steadily from 26 kV to 74 kV in 2 hours. The magnitudes of simulated proton flows at the equatorial plane are found to increase with enhancing convection while the overall flow directions do not change significantly. The radial profiles of proton pressure, number density, and temperature along the midnight meridian show that the magnitudes increase by a factor of ~1.2 to 1.4 while the common feature of increasing magnitude with decreasing distance from the Earth in their profiles remains unchanged. The equatorial profiles of plasma parameters show that the dawn-dusk asymmetries with higher pressure and temperature on the dusk side increase with increasing PCP, while the dawn-dusk asymmetry in density does not change very much. The equatorial magnetic field strengths in the near-Earth plasma sheet decrease more than those further down the tail as the PCP increases, resulting in an increasing flat radial profile with enhancing convection strength.
Chen Margaret W.
Lyons Larry R.
Wang Chenjie
Wolf Richard A.
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