| 1. |
- André, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Magnetic reconnection and modification of the Hall physics due to cold ions at the magnetopause
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:13, s. 6705-6712
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft are used to investigate the Hall physics of a magnetopause magnetic reconnection separatrix layer. Inside this layer of currents and strong normal electric fields, cold (eV) ions of ionospheric origin can remain frozen-in together with the electrons. The cold ions reduce the Hall current. Using a generalized Ohm's law, the electric field is balanced by the sum of the terms corresponding to the Hall current, the vxB drifting cold ions, and the divergence of the electron pressure tensor. A mixture of hot and cold ions is common at the subsolar magnetopause. A mixture of length scales caused by a mixture of ion temperatures has significant effects on the Hall physics of magnetic reconnection.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Blomberg, Lars G., et al.
(författare)
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High-Latitude Convection Patterns For Various Large-Scale Field-Aligned Current Configurations
- 1991
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 18:4, s. 717-720
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The large-scale field-aligned current system for persistent northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is typically different from that for persistent southward IMF. One characteristic difference is that for northward IMF there is often a large-scale field-aligned current system poleward of the main auroral oval. This current system (the NBZ current) typically occupies a large fraction of the region poleward of the region 1 and 2 currents. The present paper models the high-latitude convection as a function of the large-scale field-aligned currents. In particular, a possible evolution of the convection pattern as the current system changes from a typical configuration for southward IMF to a configuration representing northward IMF (or vice versa) is presented. Depending on additional assumptions, for example about the y-component of the IMF, the convection pattern could either turn directly from a two-cell type to a four-cell type, or a three-cell type pattern could show up as an intermediate state. An interesting although rather surprising result of this study is that different ways of balancing the NBZ currents has a minor influence on the large-scale convection pattern.
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| 4. |
- Breuillard, H., et al.
(författare)
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Multispacecraft analysis of dipolarization fronts and associated whistler wave emissions using MMS data
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:14, s. 7279-7286
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dipolarization fronts (DFs), embedded in bursty bulk flows, play a crucial role in Earth's plasma sheet dynamics because the energy input from the solar wind is partly dissipated in their vicinity. This dissipation is in the form of strong low-frequency waves that can heat and accelerate energetic electrons up to the high-latitude plasma sheet. However, the dynamics of DF propagation and associated low-frequency waves in the magnetotail are still under debate due to instrumental limitations and spacecraft separation distances. In May 2015 the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission was in a string-of-pearls configuration with an average intersatellite distance of 160km, which allows us to study in detail the microphysics of DFs. Thus, in this letter we employ MMS data to investigate the properties of dipolarization fronts propagating earthward and associated whistler mode wave emissions. We show that the spatial dynamics of DFs are below the ion gyroradius scale in this region (approximate to 500km), which can modify the dynamics of ions in the vicinity of the DF (e.g., making their motion nonadiabatic). We also show that whistler wave dynamics have a temporal scale of the order of the ion gyroperiod (a few seconds), indicating that the perpendicular temperature anisotropy can vary on such time scales.
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| 5. |
- Eriksson, S., et al.
(författare)
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Magnetospheric Multiscale observations of magnetic reconnection associated with Kelvin-Helmholtz waves
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:11, s. 5606-5615
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft recorded the first direct evidence of reconnection exhausts associated with Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves at the duskside magnetopause on 8 September 2015 which allows for local mass and energy transport across the flank magnetopause. Pressure anisotropy-weighted Walen analyses confirmed in-plane exhausts across 22 of 42 KH-related trailing magnetopause current sheets (CSs). Twenty-one jets were observed by all spacecraft, with small variations in ion velocity, along the same sunward or antisunward direction with nearly equal probability. One exhaust was only observed by the MMS-1,2 pair, while MMS-3,4 traversed a narrow CS (1.5 ion inertial length) in the vicinity of an electron diffusion region. The exhausts were locally 2-D planar in nature as MMS-1,2 observed almost identical signatures separated along the guide-field. Asymmetric magnetic and electric Hall fields are reported in agreement with a strong guide-field and a weak plasma density asymmetry across the magnetopause CS.
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| 6. |
- Farrugia, C. J., et al.
(författare)
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Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission observations and non-force free modeling of a flux transfer event immersed in a super-Alfvenic flow
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:12, s. 6070-6077
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We analyze plasma, magnetic field, and electric field data for a flux transfer event (FTE) to highlight improvements in our understanding of these transient reconnection signatures resulting from high-resolution data. The similar to 20 s long, reverse FTE, which occurred south of the geomagnetic equator near dusk, was immersed in super-Alfvenic flow. The field line twist is illustrated by the behavior of flows parallel/perpendicular to the magnetic field. Four-spacecraft timing and energetic particle pitch angle anisotropies indicate a flux rope (FR) connected to the Northern Hemisphere and moving southeast. The flow forces evidently overcame the magnetic tension. The high-speed flows inside the FR were different from those outside. The external flows were perpendicular to the field as expected for draping of the external field around the FR. Modeling the FR analytically, we adopt a non-force free approach since the current perpendicular to the field is nonzero. It reproduces many features of the observations.
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| 7. |
- Feldstein, Y. I., et al.
(författare)
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Electromagnetic weather at 100 km altitude on 3 August 1986
- 1994
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 21, s. 2095-2098
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The electromagnetic weather at high altitudes above the Earth’s surface is determined by the transport of ionospheric plasma, which in turn is governed by the magnitude as well as the direction of the electric and magnetic fields. Different models [Levitin et al., 1984; Friis-Christensen et al., 1985; Mishin, 1990] have been proposed that allow an estimation of the electromagnetic parameters of the upper atmosphere, given a knowledge of the magnitude and orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. Here we use one such model to estimate the global convection pattern and its temporal evolution during a pass of the Swedish satellite Viking over the northern polar cap. The model predictions are shown to agree well with the electric and magnetic fields measured along the satellite trajectory. The good agreement implies that the model can be used to reconstruct, with reasonable confidence, the large-scale distribution of electric and magnetic fields and their time-variation in the entire auroral ionosphere.
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| 8. |
- Graham, Daniel B., et al.
(författare)
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Electron currents and heating in the ion diffusion region of asymmetric reconnection
- 2016
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 43:10, s. 4691-4700
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this letter the structure of the ion diffusion region of magnetic reconnection at Earth's magnetopause is investigated using the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft. The ion diffusion region is characterized by a strong DC electric field, approximately equal to the Hall electric field, intense currents, and electron heating parallel to the background magnetic field. Current structures well below ion spatial scales are resolved, and the electron motion associated with lower hybrid drift waves is shown to contribute significantly to the total current density. The electron heating is shown to be consistent with large-scale parallel electric fields trapping and accelerating electrons, rather than wave-particle interactions. These results show that sub-ion scale processes occur in the ion diffusion region and are important for understanding electron heating and acceleration.
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| 9. |
- Ivchenko, Nickolay, et al.
(författare)
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Quasiperiodic oscillations observed at the edge of an auroral arc by Auroral Turbulence 2
- 1999
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 26:22, s. 3365-3368
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Auroral Turbulence II (AT2) sounding rocket carried three payloads into the auroral ionosphere where they crossed several are structures. At the border of an auroral are a quasiperiodic structure was observed by the magnetic and electric field instruments as well as by the particle detectors. The variations were temporal oscillations, but existed only in a narrow (approximate to 7 km) region transverse to the are, with a correlation length along the are of at least several km. The relation between the electric and magnetic field amplitude indicates the Alfvenic nature of the variations. Field aligned electron precipitation is correlated to the field variations. The narrow band nature of the oscillations and frequency around 0.6 Hz is consistent with waves confined in the ionospheric Alfven resonator.
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| 10. |
- Karlsson, Tomas, et al.
(författare)
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A statistical study of intense low-altitude electric fields observed by Freja
- 1996
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 23, s. 1005-1008
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Extremely intense (up to 2 V/m) and fine-structured (1–5 km) electric fields have been observed by the Freja satellite at altitudes of 1400–1770 km. To study the occurrence and characteristics of these intense electric field events, a database was set up by searching 7 months' worth of Freja data for events with peak values greater than 200 mV/m. The intense electric field events are distributed over all local times, but they are mostly concentrated to the midnight and early morning sector of the auroral oval. The events are seen to be associated with low ambient ionospheric conductivities, but are not activity dependent. The most intense events (located in the midnight sector) are associated with the smallest scale sizes, whereas the less intense events on the day side have larger scale sizes.The findings are consistent with the interpretation that a majority of the intense electric field events observed by Freja are associated with the small-scale, east-west-aligned, low-conductivity bands devoid of auroral emissions, known as black auroral bands, or with the curls that may develop when these bands go unstable. Several observations of diverging electric fields of around 1 V/m at 800 km altitude, within the southern auroral oval, may serve as support for the prediction that intense electric fields should exist also at ionospheric altitudes.
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