Journal ArticleDOI
Tail reconnection triggering substorm onset.
Vassilis Angelopoulos,James P. McFadden,Davin Larson,C. W. Carlson,Stephen B. Mende,Harald U. Frey,Tai Phan,David G. Sibeck,Karl-Heinz Glassmeier,Uli Auster,Eric Donovan,Ian R. Mann,I. Jonathan Rae,Christopher T. Russell,Andrei Runov,Xu-Zhi Zhou,Larry Kepko +16 more
TLDR
Results demonstrate that substorms are likely initiated by tail reconnection, and are reported on simultaneous measurements in the magnetotail at multiple distances, at the time of substorm onset.Abstract:
Magnetospheric substorms explosively release solar wind energy previously stored in Earth's magnetotail, encompassing the entire magnetosphere and producing spectacular auroral displays. It has been unclear whether a substorm is triggered by a disruption of the electrical current flowing across the near-Earth magnetotail, at approximately 10 R(E) (R(E): Earth radius, or 6374 kilometers), or by the process of magnetic reconnection typically seen farther out in the magnetotail, at approximately 20 to 30 R(E). We report on simultaneous measurements in the magnetotail at multiple distances, at the time of substorm onset. Reconnection was observed at 20 R(E), at least 1.5 minutes before auroral intensification, at least 2 minutes before substorm expansion, and about 3 minutes before near-Earth current disruption. These results demonstrate that substorms are likely initiated by tail reconnection.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
On the current sheets surrounding dipolarizing flux bundles in the magnetotail: The case for wedgelets
TL;DR: The authors studied the three-dimensional structure of the dipolarization front current sheet (DFCS), which demarcates the magnetic boundary of a dipolarizing flux bundle (DFB) in Earth's magnetotail.
Journal ArticleDOI
Dipolarization fronts as a signature of transient reconnection in the magnetotail
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown that bipolarization fronts (DFs) form when the force balance is already restored in the system and justify their interpretation as a nonlinear stage of the tearing instability developing in two magnetotail-like structures on the left and on the right of the initial central X-line.
Journal ArticleDOI
Quasiadiabatic dynamics of charged particles in a space plasma
Lev Zelenyi,Lev Zelenyi,Anatolii Iserovich Neishtadt,Anatolii Iserovich Neishtadt,Anton Artemyev,D. L. Vainchtein,D. L. Vainchtein,Helmi Malova,Helmi Malova +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors systematically review the quasiadiabatic approximation and illustrate how it can be used to describe various phenomena in Earth's magnetosphere and to explain many effects observed by satellites.
Journal ArticleDOI
Bursty bulk flows and dipolarization in MHD simulations of magnetotail reconnection
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the fate of earthward bursty bulk flows (BBFs) generated by the severance of a plasmoid via magnetic reconnection and identify the flow bursts as entropy-depleted magnetic flux tubes (''bubbles'').
Journal ArticleDOI
Substorm triggering by new plasma intrusion: THEMIS all‐sky imager observations
Yukitoshi Nishimura,Yukitoshi Nishimura,Larry R. Lyons,Shasha Zou,Shasha Zou,Vassilis Angelopoulos,Stephen B. Mende +6 more
TL;DR: In this article, an event and statistical analysis of THEMIS all-sky imager data was performed to identify the sequence of events leading to substorm auroral onset, and the results indicated that onset is preceded by enhanced earthward plasma flows associated with enhanced reconnection near the pre-existing open-closed field line boundary.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The development of the auroral substorm.
TL;DR: In this paper, a working model of simultaneous auroral activity over the entire polar region is presented in terms of the auroral substorm, which has two characteristic phases, an expansive phase and a recovery phase.
Journal ArticleDOI
Neutral line model of substorms: Past results and present view
Daniel N. Baker,Tuija Pulkkinen,Vassilis Angelopoulos,Wolfgang Baumjohann,Robert L. McPherron +4 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed the NENL model of magnetospheric substorms, including the role of coupling with the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field, the growth phase sequence, the expansion phase (and onset), and the recovery phase.
Journal ArticleDOI
Modeling the Earth's magnetospheric magnetic field confined within a realistic magnetopause
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe a new approach to the problem of fitting the magnetosphereic magnetic field to spacecraft data, based on fits to a large number of observed crossing (allowing a parametrization by the solar wind pressure).
Journal ArticleDOI
Current disruption in the Earth's magnetosphere: Observations and models
TL;DR: In this paper, the cross-tail current sheet shows a rapid growth in the current density, a large upsurge in the duskward ion bulk speed to nearly the ion thermal speed, an increase in the plasma pressure and its isotropy, a rise in the ion beta, and a decrease in the thickness of the current sheet to a length scale comparable to the thermal ion gyroradius.
Journal ArticleDOI
Structure and dynamics of magnetic reconnection for substorm onsets with Geotail observations
T. Nagai,M. Fujimoto,Yoshitaka Saito,Shinobu Machida,Toshio Terasawa,Rumi Nakamura,Tadashi Yamamoto,Toshifumi Mukai,Atsuhiro Nishida,Susumu Kokubun +9 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the structure and dynamics of magnetic reconnection were studied in the premidnight sector of the magnetotail at 20-30 RE for substorm onsets in Geotail observations.