Flow channels in numerical simulations: BBF's, bubbles or what?

Details Flow channels in numerical simulations: BBF's, bubbles or what? Flow channels in numerical simulations: BBF's, bubbles or what?

May 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusmsm32b..08l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #SM32B-08

Physics

2744 Magnetotail, 2753 Numerical Modeling, 2760 Plasma Convection, 2764 Plasma Sheet

Scientific paper

Global MHD simulations of the Earth's magnetosphere have shown a phenomenon we have labelled ``flow channels''. These are relatively narrow regions of strong earthward convection. They can remain coherent from the vicinity of the tail neutral line, ~ 25 RE, to within 10 RE and can propagate at speeds hundreds of km/s. So far, these structures have not been definitively resolved in any simulation; as the simulation cell size gets smaller, the flow channels get narrower with no limiting value yet reached. It is tempting to associate these channels with the observed bursty bulk flows (BBF's). This paper will compare the physical characteristics of simulation channels at the highest possible numerical resolution with satellite observations of BBF's and will attempt to validate this correspondence. In addition we will discuss the origin and evolution of the channels and their effects on the ionosphere. While the channels are associated with the formation of a neutral line in the mid-tail, the mechanism by which they form is not clear. There appear to be two alternatives: enhanced reconnection at some site giving a localized flow burst or the creation of a flux tube with low plasma content giving rise to an interchange unstable ``bubble'' as predicted by Pontius and Wolf. Preliminary results favor, the second mechanism, but the two are not totally incompatible. The subsequent evolution of the flow channel seems to be more consistent with a ``bubble'' than a driven reconnection jet.

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