Influences of the interplanetary magnetic field clock angle and cone angle on the field-aligned currents in the magnetotail

Abstract

The influences of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) cone angle θ and clock angle ϕ on the field-aligned currents (FACs) at the plasma sheet boundary layers (PSBLs) have been investigated using Cluster Data. The FAC occurrence increases monotonically with IMF cone angle and has two peaks at -90° and +110° clock angle, respectively. The peak at +110° is distinctly larger than that at -90°. Overall, there are more FACs between 0° < ϕ < 180°, indicating that FACs occurrence is closely associated with duskward IMF. More FACs occur when 90° < |ϕ| < 180°, implying that FAC is closely associated with southward IMF. The large FAC densities occur when 60° < |ϕ| < 120°. The density also has two peaks and the peak at +90° clock angle (duskward IMF) is larger than that at -90° (dawnward IMF). These results indicate that the IMF influence on the FACs is from all IMF components and not only from a single component.