Substorm Onset Arc Formation and Breakup by Kinetic Ballooning Instability

Details Substorm Onset Arc Formation and Breakup by Kinetic Ballooning Instability Substorm Onset Arc Formation and Breakup by Kinetic Ballooning Instability

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsm53a1439c&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SM53A-1439

Physics

2407 Auroral Ionosphere (2704), 2764 Plasma Sheet, 2790 Substorms

Scientific paper

Ground-based observations of substorms have shown detailed structures of the breakup arcs associated with Pi 2 fluctuations and their subsequent breakup. Understanding the breakup arc formation and its subsequent breakup is critical for resolving the mystery of auroral substorm onset mechanism. Moreover, satellite observations have indicated that most substorms are initiated in the near-Earth plasma sheet region and are associated with low frequency (in the Pi 2 range) instabilities. Thus, a successful theory or model of substorm onset must provide physical understanding of key observational features in both auroral breakup arcs and the near-Earth plasma sheet dynamics. Here, we propose the theory of Kinetic Ballooning Instability (KBI) to explain the substorm observations in both the aurora and near-Earth plasma sheet regions. Our theory is based on the theoretical analysis and numerical solutions of the kinetic-MHD mode equations for 3D global magnetospheric quasi-static equilibria that model the substorm late growth phase magnetosphere. The kinetic- MHD equations retain kinetic effects of particle trapping, finite ion gyroradii, and wave-particle resonances. The results show that the KBI has a real frequency associated with the ion magnetic drift frequency, which is in the Pi2 frequency range, and the most unstable KBI has an azimuthal mode number on the order of 200-300. The theoretical KBI features are consistent with observational features in both the aurora breakup arcs and the near-Earth plasma sheet dynamics. Comparison between the KBI theory and substorm observations will be presented.

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