Month: September 2022

GIANT GYRES. “Statistical studies have shown that the position of the plasmapause is correlated with geomagnetic activity, being at smaller radial distances during higher levels of activity. This can be understood by the enhanced convection electric field moving the boundary between the convection-dominated outer region and the co-rotation-dominated inner region closer to the Earth.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrsp-2007-1 View in LinkedIn

DYNAMIC PLASMASPHERE. “During magnetic quiescence, the plasmasphere is expanded and the plasmapause can be located outside geostationary orbit. Particularly during low magnetic activity conditions, there is significant variability in the plasmapause location.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrsp-2007-1 View in LinkedIn

STORM DYNAMICS. “During storms, the plasmapause moves inward due to the enhanced solar wind driving, while a drainage plume develops in the dusk sector. Within this plume, the cold plasma flows outward toward the magnetopause thus escaping from the plasmasphere.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrsp-2007-1 View in LinkedIn

STORM DYNAMICS. “After the field lines reconnect at the magnetopause, they convect over the polar cap toward the magnetotail, thus providing an additional source of plasma to the tail plasma sheet during storms. As the storm driving subsides, the plasmasphere slowly recovers its quiet-time size.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrsp-2007-1 View in LinkedIn

POST-STORM. “The recovery time scale is associated both with the recovery of the quiet-time electric field structure and with the outflow time scale of the cold plasma from the ionosphere...the location of the plasmapause during storms has been shown to be a significant factor in determining the fate of the relativistic electron population in the outer van Allen belt.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrsp-2007-1 View in LinkedIn

POWERFUL ELECTRONS. “The most significant hazard to Earth-orbiting satellites is posed by high fluxes of relativistic electrons, which can penetrate the spacecraft systems. These electrons are transported under the same electric and magnetic fields as the ring current ions, but their higher speed makes them less sensitive to the details of the electric field structure.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrsp-2007-1 View in LinkedIn

RIVERS OF ELECTRONS. “The relativistic electron intensity variations are driven by the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field conditions. Early studies found a correlation between the relativistic electron flux enhancements and solar wind high speed streams.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrsp-2007-1 View in LinkedIn

WIND DRIVEN ELECTRONS. “This result was later augmented by the understanding that those high-speed streams that were coincident with southward interplanetary magnetic field were more efficient in enhancing the electron fluxes. As southward interplanetary field and high solar wind speed are the main drivers of magnetospheric storm activity, it is not surprising that the average electron flux levels trace geomagnetic activity.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrsp-2007-1 View in LinkedIn