Surveys on magnetospheric plasmas based on the Double Star Project (DSP) exploration

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.

The correlations of ions density with geomagnetic activity and solar dynamic pressure in cusp region

A statistical study of the properties of ions (O+, He+ and H+) measured by the Cluster-II in cusp region as a function of the solar wind dynamic pressure and geomagnetic index Kp respectively was made dur-ing the summer and fall of 2001-2003. The main results are that: (1) O+ ion density responds in a sig-nificant way to geomagnetic index Kp, and He+ ion density is not correlated with geomagnetic index Kp, both of them have a significant positive correlation with solar wind dynamic pressure; (2) H+ ion density is also observed to increase with solar wind dynamic pressure, and not correlated with geomagnetic index Kp.

Solar wind entry via flux tube into magnetosphere observed by Cluster measurements at dayside magnetopause during southward IMF

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.