On the basis of the plasma, electric and magnetic fields jointly observed by Cluster and the Double Star TC-I spacecraft in the Earth＇s magnetotail, we have investigated the earthward flow bursts by introducing the m...On the basis of the plasma, electric and magnetic fields jointly observed by Cluster and the Double Star TC-I spacecraft in the Earth＇s magnetotail, we have investigated the earthward flow bursts by introducing the momentum equation in the X-direction in the ideal conditions of magneto hydrodynamics （MHD）. One earthward flow burst with a peak in excess of 500 km/s was selected, when the four spacecraft of Cluster were located around -16 RE and TC-1 was located around -10 RE in the X-direction. The inter-spacecraft distances in Y and Z directions were smaller than the statistical spatial scales of the bursty bulk flows. When the Y components of E and -VxB were compared, there was no clear breakdown of the frozen-in condition during the earthward flow burst. With the measured plasma and magnetic parameters from two spacecraft at different positions in the magnetotail, the X component of the pressure gradient was calculated. Magnetic tension was calculated using the mag- netic field measured at four points, which could be compared with the assumed constant in the past research with single satel- lite. When the pressure gradient and the magnetic tension were put into the MHD momentum equation, some samples of the earthward flow bursts were accelerated and some were decelerated. The braking process of the earthward flow burst was more complicated than what the past results had shown. The accelerated samples accounted for about one third of the whole earth- ward flow bursts and discontinuously located among the decelerated elements. The original single earthward flow burst event might be split into several short flow bursts when it was moving to the Earth. Our results may partly illustrate that the duration of fast flows during three phases of substorm becomes short near the Earth. The results are consistent with the past results that fast flows intrude to places earthward the typical braking region.展开更多
The nonadiabatic acceleration of plasma sheet ions is important to the understanding of substorm energetic injections and the formation of ring current. Previous studies show that nonadiabatic acceleration of protons ...The nonadiabatic acceleration of plasma sheet ions is important to the understanding of substorm energetic injections and the formation of ring current. Previous studies show that nonadiabatic acceleration of protons by magnetic field dipolarization is hard to occur at X>–10 RE because the time-scale of dipolarization(several minutes) is much larger than the gyroperiod of protons there(several seconds). In this paper, we present a case of nonadiabatic acceleration of plasma sheet ions observed by Cluster on October 30, 2006 at(XGSM, YGSM)=(-7.7, 4.7) RE. The nonadiabatic acceleration of ions is caused not by previously reported magnetospheric dipolarization but by the ultra low frequency(ULF) waves during magnetospheric dipolarization. The nonadiabatic acceleration of ions generates a new energy flux structure of ions, which is characterized by the usual energy flux increase of ions(28–80 ke V) and a concurrent energy flux decrease of ions in a lower energy range(10 e V–20 ke V). These new observations constitute a complete physical picture: The lower energy ions absorb the wave energy, and thus get accelerated to higher energy. We use a nonadiabatic model to interpret the ion energy flux variations. Both analytic and simulation results are in good agreement with the observations. This indicates that the nonadiabatic acceleration associated with ULF waves superposed on dipolarized magnetic field is an effective mechanism for ion energization in the near-Earth plasma sheet. The presented energy flux structures can be used as a proxy to identify the similar dynamic process.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40931054, 41174141 and 40904042)the National Basic Research Program of China ("973" Project)(Grant No. 2011CB811404)+1 种基金Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories (Grant No. KP201104)supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists (Grant No. 2009S1-54)
文摘On the basis of the plasma, electric and magnetic fields jointly observed by Cluster and the Double Star TC-I spacecraft in the Earth＇s magnetotail, we have investigated the earthward flow bursts by introducing the momentum equation in the X-direction in the ideal conditions of magneto hydrodynamics （MHD）. One earthward flow burst with a peak in excess of 500 km/s was selected, when the four spacecraft of Cluster were located around -16 RE and TC-1 was located around -10 RE in the X-direction. The inter-spacecraft distances in Y and Z directions were smaller than the statistical spatial scales of the bursty bulk flows. When the Y components of E and -VxB were compared, there was no clear breakdown of the frozen-in condition during the earthward flow burst. With the measured plasma and magnetic parameters from two spacecraft at different positions in the magnetotail, the X component of the pressure gradient was calculated. Magnetic tension was calculated using the mag- netic field measured at four points, which could be compared with the assumed constant in the past research with single satel- lite. When the pressure gradient and the magnetic tension were put into the MHD momentum equation, some samples of the earthward flow bursts were accelerated and some were decelerated. The braking process of the earthward flow burst was more complicated than what the past results had shown. The accelerated samples accounted for about one third of the whole earth- ward flow bursts and discontinuously located among the decelerated elements. The original single earthward flow burst event might be split into several short flow bursts when it was moving to the Earth. Our results may partly illustrate that the duration of fast flows during three phases of substorm becomes short near the Earth. The results are consistent with the past results that fast flows intrude to places earthward the typical braking region.
基金supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant No.2013M531344)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant No.56YAH12039)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41174141)the National Basic Research Program of China("973"Project)(Grant No.2011CB811404)
文摘The nonadiabatic acceleration of plasma sheet ions is important to the understanding of substorm energetic injections and the formation of ring current. Previous studies show that nonadiabatic acceleration of protons by magnetic field dipolarization is hard to occur at X>–10 RE because the time-scale of dipolarization(several minutes) is much larger than the gyroperiod of protons there(several seconds). In this paper, we present a case of nonadiabatic acceleration of plasma sheet ions observed by Cluster on October 30, 2006 at(XGSM, YGSM)=(-7.7, 4.7) RE. The nonadiabatic acceleration of ions is caused not by previously reported magnetospheric dipolarization but by the ultra low frequency(ULF) waves during magnetospheric dipolarization. The nonadiabatic acceleration of ions generates a new energy flux structure of ions, which is characterized by the usual energy flux increase of ions(28–80 ke V) and a concurrent energy flux decrease of ions in a lower energy range(10 e V–20 ke V). These new observations constitute a complete physical picture: The lower energy ions absorb the wave energy, and thus get accelerated to higher energy. We use a nonadiabatic model to interpret the ion energy flux variations. Both analytic and simulation results are in good agreement with the observations. This indicates that the nonadiabatic acceleration associated with ULF waves superposed on dipolarized magnetic field is an effective mechanism for ion energization in the near-Earth plasma sheet. The presented energy flux structures can be used as a proxy to identify the similar dynamic process.
