Substorms as nonequilibrium transitions of the magnetosphere

Details Substorms as nonequilibrium transitions of the magnetosphere Substorms as nonequilibrium transitions of the magnetosphere

Sep 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001jastp..63.1399s&link_type=abstract

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Volume 63, Issue 13, p. 1399-1406.

Physics

5

Scientific paper

The complexity of the magnetospheric dynamics during substorms has attracted continued attention and its understanding requires approaches beyond the conventional one based on plasma processes. Recognizing the nonequilibrium and open nature of the coupled solar wind-magnetosphere system, attempts have been made recently to interpret the observational data in terms of self-organization (SO) and self-organized criticality (SOC). The SO concept reflects the nonlinear organized behavior of the magnetosphere as a whole, while the SOC approach emphasizes its multi-scale aspects. Evidence of both SO and SOC in substorm dynamics inferred from ground-based and multi-spacecraft data, as well as the possible combination of these concepts within the framework of a more general approach of nonequilibrium phase transitions are presented in this paper. Like the real sandpiles and recent SOC models, the multi-scale manifestations of the substorm activity are more consistent with the phase transition behavior, viz. a system effectively tuned to criticality rather than being self-organized. The problem of characterizing this critical behavior other than the widely used power-law frequency and scale spectra is discussed.

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