Field aligned current （FAC） distribution in the plasma sheet boundary layers （PSBLs） in the magnetotail is studied statistically by analysing magnetic field data from the Cluster 4-point measurements. The results ...Field aligned current （FAC） distribution in the plasma sheet boundary layers （PSBLs） in the magnetotail is studied statistically by analysing magnetic field data from the Cluster 4-point measurements. The results show that the FAC distribution on the dusk side is not the same as that on the dawn side in the magnetotail. On the each side earthward and tailward, FA C occurrences are different; occurrence and average current density of FA Cs in the northern hemisphere are different from those in the southern hemisphere. This implies that the FACs have dusk-dawn side asymmetry, polarity asymmetry and inter hemisphere difference in the magnetotail. The present results give a good observation evidence for study on the FAC mechanism.展开更多
The equatorial and polar satellites of the Double Star Project (DSP) were launched successfully on December 29, 2003 and July 25, 2004, respectively, and both of them are operating smoothly. The DSP provides a good op...The equatorial and polar satellites of the Double Star Project (DSP) were launched successfully on December 29, 2003 and July 25, 2004, respectively, and both of them are operating smoothly. The DSP provides a good opportunity for investigat-ing the structure of the magnetosphere. Based on the DSP data collected during 2004, we have surveyed the distribution of the magnetic fields and plasmas in the magnetosphere. It is found that: (1) Near the Earth’s equatorial plane within geo-centric distances of less than 7 RE, the Earth’s magnetic field is dipolar. In the vi-cinity of the magnetopause, the magnetic field is enhanced by a factor of about 1.5, and on the nightside, the magnetic field can vary significantly from the Earth’s di-pole field, likely caused by the presence of the near-Earth tail current sheet. (2) In the day-side magnetosheath, the electron and ion densities are usually both in the range of 10―30 cm?3; the ion and electron temperatures are usually about 200 and 50 eV, respectively. The flow pattern is usually smooth, with a low velocity in the subsolar region and with significantly higher velocities in the dawn and dusk flanks. (3) In the region between the magnetopause and plasmasphere the density is low, approximately 0.5―5 cm?3, and the temperature is high, about 1―10 keV for ions and 0.1―5 keV for electrons. The ion temperature has an apparent anisotropy, with the ratio of the perpendicular and parallel temperatures being about 1.0―1.3 for the night- and dusk-side magnetosphere and about 1.3―2.0 for the day- and dawn-side magnetosphere. There is an evident sunward convection of about 50 km/s in the magnetosphere. On the dawn side, the flow becomes somewhat turbulent, and in the vicinity of the night-noon meridian plane, the convection is rather slow. (4) The high-energy electrons with energies higher than 2 MeV are mainly located in the regions with 3 < L < 4.5; the size of the high-energy electrons area varies with time, it may expand and shrink occasionally according to different solar wind conditions and magnetic activities.展开更多
An event of Cluster-Double Star conjunction observations of magnetic reconnec-tion at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps and solar wind trans-port into magnetosphere caused by such reconnection process...An event of Cluster-Double Star conjunction observations of magnetic reconnec-tion at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps and solar wind trans-port into magnetosphere caused by such reconnection process has been investi-gated. During northward IMF, Cluster/SC1 observed accelerated flows and ion heating associated with magnetic reconnection at high latitude magnetopause nightside of southern cusp. And Double Star observed cold dense solar wind plasma transported into dayside magnetosphere. The analysis on such conjunction observations shows that: (1) during northward IMF, magnetic reconnection occurs at high latitude nightside of southern cusp, accompanied by accelerated flows that are observed by Cluster/SC1; (2) the direction of the accelerated flows, with its sunward component Vx, dawnward component Vy, northward component Vz, is quite consistent with the theoretical anticipation under the condition of northward IMF with dawnward component By; (3) reconnection can heat plasma more in par-allel direction than in perpendicular direction, to a level of about 4 keV; (4) with reconnection taking place at high latitude magnetopause nightside of the southern cusp, TC-1 observed cold and dense plasma transported into magnetosphere; (5) by reconnection at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps, solar wind flux tube can be captured by magnetosphere and pulled into dayside magneto-sphere. This event presents further observational evidence for magnetic reconnec-tion at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps as an important mech-anism of sol-ar w-ind transport into magnetosphere.展开更多
By analyzing hot ion and electron parameters together with magnetic field measurements from Cluster, an event of magnetopause crossing of the spacecraft has been investigated. At the latitude of about 40° and mag...By analyzing hot ion and electron parameters together with magnetic field measurements from Cluster, an event of magnetopause crossing of the spacecraft has been investigated. At the latitude of about 40° and magnetic local time (MLT) of 13:20 during the southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), a transition layer was observed, with the magnetospheric field configuration and cold dense plasma features of the magnetosheath. The particle energy-time spectrograms inside the layer were similar to but still a little different from those in the magnetosheath, obviously indicating the solar wind entry into the magnetosphere. The direction and magnitude of the accelerated ion flow implied that reconnection might possibly cause such a solar wind entry phenomenon. The bipolar signature of the normal magnetic component BN in magnetopause coordinates further supported happening of reconnection there. The solar wind plasma flowed toward the magnetopause and entered the magnetosphere along the reconnected flux tube. The magnetospheric branch of the reconnected flux tube was still inside the magnetosphere after reconnection and supplied the path for the solar wind entry into the dayside magnetosphere. The case analysis gives observational evidence and more details of how the reconnection process at the dayside low latitude magnetopause caused the solar wind entry into the magnetosphere.展开更多
In this paper, we introduce an effective processing method to acquire the time de-rivative of the AE index as a coefficient. Using this coefficient, the AE index can be divided into the four stages: quiet, ascending, ...In this paper, we introduce an effective processing method to acquire the time de-rivative of the AE index as a coefficient. Using this coefficient, the AE index can be divided into the four stages: quiet, ascending, descending and active stages. The statistical results show that the ascending and descending stages of the AE index are dominant and occupy two thirds of the whole period. An analysis of the rela-tionship between the occurrence frequencies of the Dst index and AE index in solar cycle 23 shows that the monthly variation of the occurrence frequencies of the ascending stage of AE is closely related to the decrease of the Dst index.展开更多
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 40674091, 40621003 and 40874084, and the Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories.
文摘Field aligned current （FAC） distribution in the plasma sheet boundary layers （PSBLs） in the magnetotail is studied statistically by analysing magnetic field data from the Cluster 4-point measurements. The results show that the FAC distribution on the dusk side is not the same as that on the dawn side in the magnetotail. On the each side earthward and tailward, FA C occurrences are different; occurrence and average current density of FA Cs in the northern hemisphere are different from those in the southern hemisphere. This implies that the FACs have dusk-dawn side asymmetry, polarity asymmetry and inter hemisphere difference in the magnetotail. The present results give a good observation evidence for study on the FAC mechanism.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40621003, 40728005,40674094, and 40390150)Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2006CB806305)Hundred Talents Program of the CAS
文摘The equatorial and polar satellites of the Double Star Project (DSP) were launched successfully on December 29, 2003 and July 25, 2004, respectively, and both of them are operating smoothly. The DSP provides a good opportunity for investigat-ing the structure of the magnetosphere. Based on the DSP data collected during 2004, we have surveyed the distribution of the magnetic fields and plasmas in the magnetosphere. It is found that: (1) Near the Earth’s equatorial plane within geo-centric distances of less than 7 RE, the Earth’s magnetic field is dipolar. In the vi-cinity of the magnetopause, the magnetic field is enhanced by a factor of about 1.5, and on the nightside, the magnetic field can vary significantly from the Earth’s di-pole field, likely caused by the presence of the near-Earth tail current sheet. (2) In the day-side magnetosheath, the electron and ion densities are usually both in the range of 10―30 cm?3; the ion and electron temperatures are usually about 200 and 50 eV, respectively. The flow pattern is usually smooth, with a low velocity in the subsolar region and with significantly higher velocities in the dawn and dusk flanks. (3) In the region between the magnetopause and plasmasphere the density is low, approximately 0.5―5 cm?3, and the temperature is high, about 1―10 keV for ions and 0.1―5 keV for electrons. The ion temperature has an apparent anisotropy, with the ratio of the perpendicular and parallel temperatures being about 1.0―1.3 for the night- and dusk-side magnetosphere and about 1.3―2.0 for the day- and dawn-side magnetosphere. There is an evident sunward convection of about 50 km/s in the magnetosphere. On the dawn side, the flow becomes somewhat turbulent, and in the vicinity of the night-noon meridian plane, the convection is rather slow. (4) The high-energy electrons with energies higher than 2 MeV are mainly located in the regions with 3 < L < 4.5; the size of the high-energy electrons area varies with time, it may expand and shrink occasionally according to different solar wind conditions and magnetic activities.
基金the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2006CB806305)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40621003, 40674094)the Hundred Talents Program of the CAS
文摘An event of Cluster-Double Star conjunction observations of magnetic reconnec-tion at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps and solar wind trans-port into magnetosphere caused by such reconnection process has been investi-gated. During northward IMF, Cluster/SC1 observed accelerated flows and ion heating associated with magnetic reconnection at high latitude magnetopause nightside of southern cusp. And Double Star observed cold dense solar wind plasma transported into dayside magnetosphere. The analysis on such conjunction observations shows that: (1) during northward IMF, magnetic reconnection occurs at high latitude nightside of southern cusp, accompanied by accelerated flows that are observed by Cluster/SC1; (2) the direction of the accelerated flows, with its sunward component Vx, dawnward component Vy, northward component Vz, is quite consistent with the theoretical anticipation under the condition of northward IMF with dawnward component By; (3) reconnection can heat plasma more in par-allel direction than in perpendicular direction, to a level of about 4 keV; (4) with reconnection taking place at high latitude magnetopause nightside of the southern cusp, TC-1 observed cold and dense plasma transported into magnetosphere; (5) by reconnection at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps, solar wind flux tube can be captured by magnetosphere and pulled into dayside magneto-sphere. This event presents further observational evidence for magnetic reconnec-tion at high latitude magnetopause nightside of both cusps as an important mech-anism of sol-ar w-ind transport into magnetosphere.
基金Supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2006CB806305)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.40621003,40620130094,40674094and40731054)the Hundred Talents Program of the CAS,and the Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories
文摘By analyzing hot ion and electron parameters together with magnetic field measurements from Cluster, an event of magnetopause crossing of the spacecraft has been investigated. At the latitude of about 40° and magnetic local time (MLT) of 13:20 during the southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), a transition layer was observed, with the magnetospheric field configuration and cold dense plasma features of the magnetosheath. The particle energy-time spectrograms inside the layer were similar to but still a little different from those in the magnetosheath, obviously indicating the solar wind entry into the magnetosphere. The direction and magnitude of the accelerated ion flow implied that reconnection might possibly cause such a solar wind entry phenomenon. The bipolar signature of the normal magnetic component BN in magnetopause coordinates further supported happening of reconnection there. The solar wind plasma flowed toward the magnetopause and entered the magnetosphere along the reconnected flux tube. The magnetospheric branch of the reconnected flux tube was still inside the magnetosphere after reconnection and supplied the path for the solar wind entry into the dayside magnetosphere. The case analysis gives observational evidence and more details of how the reconnection process at the dayside low latitude magnetopause caused the solar wind entry into the magnetosphere.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40704031, 40536030)
文摘In this paper, we introduce an effective processing method to acquire the time de-rivative of the AE index as a coefficient. Using this coefficient, the AE index can be divided into the four stages: quiet, ascending, descending and active stages. The statistical results show that the ascending and descending stages of the AE index are dominant and occupy two thirds of the whole period. An analysis of the rela-tionship between the occurrence frequencies of the Dst index and AE index in solar cycle 23 shows that the monthly variation of the occurrence frequencies of the ascending stage of AE is closely related to the decrease of the Dst index.
