Physics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sm62a01p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SM62A-01
Physics
2744 Magnetotail, 2753 Numerical Modeling, 2764 Plasma Sheet, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
Traditionally, mechanisms proposed to explain substorm onset have involved sudden or disruptive changes occurring in the internal state of the plasma sheet. In recent years, however, convincing evidence has accumulated that many substorms are triggered by a northward shift in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). To date, no equally convincing theoretical model has been developed to explain these observations. In order to maintain stress balance during the growth phase of substorms, the plasma sheet and tail magnetopause currents must move closer to the Earth in order to offset the enhanced anti-earthward stress on the tail associated with increased flaring. A northward Bz IMF shift should result in a sudden reduction in the solar wind stress on the magnetosphere and a decrease in the tail flaring angle. The resulting unbalanced higher magnetic pressure in the tail lobes will push the tail magnetopause outwards, leading to the launch of a fast rarefaction wave from the magnetopause toward the plasma sheet. The consequences of such a rarefaction wave for plasma sheet dynamics are investigated by means of 3-D particle-in-cell simulations. A stressed near-Earth plasma sheet configuration containing a thin current sheet is formed during a growth phase driven by a convection Ey field. The sudden reduction in stress associated with the northward IMF turning is modelled by allowing the Ey field to float on the lobe boundaries; this launches the desired rarefaction wave. The implications of this process for substorm onset will be discussed.
Coroniti Ferdinan V.
Pritchett Philip L.
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