The Magnetosphere Under Weak Solar Wind Forcing

Details The Magnetosphere Under Weak Solar Wind Forcing The Magnetosphere Under Weak Solar Wind Forcing

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsh31a0374f&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SH31A-0374

Physics

2463 Plasma Convection (2760), 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions (2431), 2776 Polar Cap Phenomena, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

The Earth's magnetosphere was very strongly disturbed during the passage of the strong shock and the following interacting ejecta on October 21-25, 2001. These disturbances included two intense storms (Dst^* ~ -250 and -180 nT, respectively). The cessation of this activity at the start of October 24 ushered in a peculiar state of the magnetosphere which lasted for about 28 hours and which we discuss in this presentation. The interplanetary field was almost exclusively pointing sunward [B = (4.29± 0.77, -0.30 ±0.71, 0.49±0.45) nT]. We analyze global indicators of geomagnetic disturbances, polar cap precipitation, ground magnetometer records, and ionospheric convection as obtained from SuperDARN radars. The state of the magnetosphere is characterized by the following features: (i) weak and patchy (in time) low-latitude dayside reconnection or reconnection poleward of the cusps; (ii) absence of substorms; (iii) a monotonic recovery from the previous storm activity (Dst corrected for magnetopause currents decreasing from ~-65 to ~-35 nT), giving an unforced decreased of ~1.1 nT/hr; (iv) absence of viscous - type interaction originating from the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability; (v) a cross-polar cap potential of just 20-30 kV; (vi) a persistent, wide polar cap area containing (vii) very weak, and sometimes absent, electron precipitation and no systematic inter-hemisphere asymmetry. We hypothesize that the large polar cap area is a residue of the intense activity from the previous two days. Whereas we therefore infer the presence of a large amount of open flux, the convection is generally weak and patchy, which we ascribe to the lack of solar wind driver. This magnetospheric state was predicted by Cowley and Lockwood (1992) but has never yet been observed.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Magnetosphere Under Weak Solar Wind Forcing does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Magnetosphere Under Weak Solar Wind Forcing, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Magnetosphere Under Weak Solar Wind Forcing will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-967922