Magnetospheric Cusp Observed by Cluster on 18 April 2002

Details Magnetospheric Cusp Observed by Cluster on 18 April 2002 Magnetospheric Cusp Observed by Cluster on 18 April 2002

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003agufmsm12a1194a&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #SM12A-1194

Other

2724 Magnetopause, Cusp, And Boundary Layers, 2730 Magnetosphere: Inner, 2731 Magnetosphere: Outer, 2732 Magnetosphere Interactions With Satellites And Rings, 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

Results are presented from a study of the northern magnetospheric cusp crossed by the 4 Cluster satellites during 16:25-17:55 UT on 18 April 2002 when the solar wind dynamic pressure was rather low and IMF Bz was suitable (southward) for reconnection at subsolar magnetopause. The satellite orbit and data from the FGM, CIS, PEACE, STAFF and WHISPER instruments reveal that the satellites have crossed through the edge of a structured exterior cusp. Three distinct anti-sunward ion flow events of duration about 1.5, 17.5 and 19.0 minutes, with bulk flow roughly parallel to the magnetopause surface, are detected in the cusp region. The ion density in the events measured by one of the satellites (C3) is up to 10 times less than that measured by other satellites (C1 and C4, no data from C2), which seems to arise from the low northward-westward flow encountered by C3 compared to C1 and C4. The magnetic field fluctuations in By (≈ 50 nT) associated with the anti-sunward ion flow events are nearly twice as strong as those in Bx and Bz, suggesting strong field-aligned currents. The sharp inward/outward walls in all directions of the anti-sunward flow events are detected with expected/reversed time sequence by the 4 satellites, with time delays of up to 10 sec./4 sec. That suggests reversed and accelerated plasma flows in all directions inside the events (faster acceleration closer to the walls) compared to the flows outside the events.

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