The motion and deceleration processes of plasma sheet high-speed flows have great significance to magnetospheric particle acceleration,magnetic field perturbation,magnetic flux transport,triggering of substorm,and the...The motion and deceleration processes of plasma sheet high-speed flows have great significance to magnetospheric particle acceleration,magnetic field perturbation,magnetic flux transport,triggering of substorm,and the current system formation in the magnetotail.From February to April 2009,two satellites of the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms mission,THA and THE,were often separated largely in Z direction,but had small X and Y separations.Such special configuration allows simultaneous observations of highspeed flows at the center and boundary of the plasma sheet.Based on selected case study and statistical analysis,it is found that for about 89%of the events we selected,the probe further away from the neutral sheet observed the high-speed flow earlier than the one close to the center,and the flow is mainly field aligned.And for about 95%events the probe further away from the neutral sheet observed higher X component of the plasma flow.With the hypothesis that parallel flow keeps the same speed during its earthward propagation while central plasma sheet stream uniformly or suddenly brakes on its way to the earth,we deduced the position where the deceleration begins to be between 13 Re and 17 Re downtail,where thenear-earth reconnection is supposed to occur.In addition,our statistical results show that dipolarization fronts observed in the central plasma sheet are more prominent than those observed in the plasma sheet boundary layer ahead of the high-speed flow.展开更多
Using Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms （THEMIS） observations from 2007 to 2011 tail seasons, we study the plasma properties of high speed flows （HSFs） and background plasma sheet...Using Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms （THEMIS） observations from 2007 to 2011 tail seasons, we study the plasma properties of high speed flows （HSFs） and background plasma sheet events （BPSs） in Earth＇s magnetotail （｜YGsM｜〈13RE, ｜ZGsM｜〈5RE, -30RE〈XrsM〈-6RE）, and their correlations with solar wind parameters. Statistical results show that the closer the HSFs and BPSs are to the Earth, the hotter they become, and the temperature increase of HSFs is larger than that of BPSs. The density and temperature ratios between HSFs and BPSs are also larger when events are closer to Earth. We also find that the best correlations between the HSFs （BPSs） density and the solar wind density occur when the solar wind density is averaged 2 （3.5） hours prior to the onset of HSFs （BPSs）. The normalized densities of both HSFs and BPSs are correlated with the interplanetary magnetic field （IMF） 0 angles （ 0 = arctan（Bz √Bx^2＋y^2 ） which are averaged 3 hours before the observation time. Further analysis indicates that both HSFs and BPSs become denser during the northward IMF period.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41031065,41074106,and 40974095)the Shandong Natural Science Foundation(JQ201112)
文摘The motion and deceleration processes of plasma sheet high-speed flows have great significance to magnetospheric particle acceleration,magnetic field perturbation,magnetic flux transport,triggering of substorm,and the current system formation in the magnetotail.From February to April 2009,two satellites of the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms mission,THA and THE,were often separated largely in Z direction,but had small X and Y separations.Such special configuration allows simultaneous observations of highspeed flows at the center and boundary of the plasma sheet.Based on selected case study and statistical analysis,it is found that for about 89%of the events we selected,the probe further away from the neutral sheet observed the high-speed flow earlier than the one close to the center,and the flow is mainly field aligned.And for about 95%events the probe further away from the neutral sheet observed higher X component of the plasma flow.With the hypothesis that parallel flow keeps the same speed during its earthward propagation while central plasma sheet stream uniformly or suddenly brakes on its way to the earth,we deduced the position where the deceleration begins to be between 13 Re and 17 Re downtail,where thenear-earth reconnection is supposed to occur.In addition,our statistical results show that dipolarization fronts observed in the central plasma sheet are more prominent than those observed in the plasma sheet boundary layer ahead of the high-speed flow.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41322031, 41031065 & 41574157)the Shandong Province Outstanding Young Scientist Award (Grant No. 2013BSE27132)+2 种基金the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (Grant No. 20130131120073)the program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-12-0332)State Key Laboratories of Space Weather
文摘Using Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms （THEMIS） observations from 2007 to 2011 tail seasons, we study the plasma properties of high speed flows （HSFs） and background plasma sheet events （BPSs） in Earth＇s magnetotail （｜YGsM｜〈13RE, ｜ZGsM｜〈5RE, -30RE〈XrsM〈-6RE）, and their correlations with solar wind parameters. Statistical results show that the closer the HSFs and BPSs are to the Earth, the hotter they become, and the temperature increase of HSFs is larger than that of BPSs. The density and temperature ratios between HSFs and BPSs are also larger when events are closer to Earth. We also find that the best correlations between the HSFs （BPSs） density and the solar wind density occur when the solar wind density is averaged 2 （3.5） hours prior to the onset of HSFs （BPSs）. The normalized densities of both HSFs and BPSs are correlated with the interplanetary magnetic field （IMF） 0 angles （ 0 = arctan（Bz √Bx^2＋y^2 ） which are averaged 3 hours before the observation time. Further analysis indicates that both HSFs and BPSs become denser during the northward IMF period.
