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Global-scale magnetosphere convection driven by dayside magnetic reconnection
Branduardi-Raymont, Graziella; Wang, Chi; Dai, Lei +8 more
Plasma convection on a global scale is a fundamental feature of planetary magnetosphere. The Dungey cycle explains that steady-state convection within the closed part of the magnetosphere relies on magnetic reconnection in the nightside magnetospheric tail. Nevertheless, time-dependent models of the Dungey cycle suggest an alternative scenario whe…
The variable source of the plasma sheet during a geomagnetic storm
Asamura, K.; Kistler, L. M.; Mouikis, C. G. +8 more
Both solar wind and ionospheric sources contribute to the magnetotail plasma sheet, but how their contribution changes during a geomagnetic storm is an open question. The source is critical because the plasma sheet properties control the enhancement and decay rate of the ring current, the main cause of the geomagnetic field perturbations that defi…
Earth's magnetosphere and outer radiation belt under sub-Alfvénic solar wind
Lugaz, Noé; Farrugia, Charles J.; Schwadron, Nathan A. +3 more
The interaction between Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind results in the formation of a collisionless bow shock 60,000-100,000 km upstream of our planet, as long as the solar wind fast magnetosonic Mach (hereafter Mach) number exceeds unity. Here, we present one of those extremely rare instances, when the solar wind Mach number reached ste…
Observations of discrete harmonics emerging from equatorial noise
Dandouras, Iannis; Walker, Simon N.; Balikhin, Michael A. +7 more
A number of modes of oscillations of particles and fields can exist in space plasmas. Since the early 1970s, space missions have observed noise-like plasma waves near the geomagnetic equator known as `equatorial noise'. Several theories were suggested, but clear observational evidence supported by realistic modelling has not been provided. Here we…
Wave energy budget analysis in the Earth's radiation belts uncovers a missing energy
Artemyev, A. V.; Agapitov, O. V.; Mozer, F. S. +2 more
Whistler-mode emissions are important electromagnetic waves pervasive in the Earth's magnetosphere, where they continuously remove or energize electrons trapped by the geomagnetic field, controlling radiation hazards to satellites and astronauts and the upper-atmosphere ionization or chemical composition. Here, we report an analysis of 10-year Clu…
Solar wind entry into the high-latitude terrestrial magnetosphere during geomagnetically quiet times
Wei, Y.; Zhang, H.; Zong, Q. -G. +14 more
An understanding of the transport of solar wind plasma into and throughout the terrestrial magnetosphere is crucial to space science and space weather. For non-active periods, there is little agreement on where and how plasma entry into the magnetosphere might occur. Moreover, behaviour in the high-latitude region behind the magnetospheric cusps, …