On the basis of the plasma, electric and magnetic fields jointly observed by Cluster and the Double Star TC-I spacecraft in the Earth＇s magnetotail, we have investigated the earthward flow bursts by introducing the m...On the basis of the plasma, electric and magnetic fields jointly observed by Cluster and the Double Star TC-I spacecraft in the Earth＇s magnetotail, we have investigated the earthward flow bursts by introducing the momentum equation in the X-direction in the ideal conditions of magneto hydrodynamics （MHD）. One earthward flow burst with a peak in excess of 500 km/s was selected, when the four spacecraft of Cluster were located around -16 RE and TC-1 was located around -10 RE in the X-direction. The inter-spacecraft distances in Y and Z directions were smaller than the statistical spatial scales of the bursty bulk flows. When the Y components of E and -VxB were compared, there was no clear breakdown of the frozen-in condition during the earthward flow burst. With the measured plasma and magnetic parameters from two spacecraft at different positions in the magnetotail, the X component of the pressure gradient was calculated. Magnetic tension was calculated using the mag- netic field measured at four points, which could be compared with the assumed constant in the past research with single satel- lite. When the pressure gradient and the magnetic tension were put into the MHD momentum equation, some samples of the earthward flow bursts were accelerated and some were decelerated. The braking process of the earthward flow burst was more complicated than what the past results had shown. The accelerated samples accounted for about one third of the whole earth- ward flow bursts and discontinuously located among the decelerated elements. The original single earthward flow burst event might be split into several short flow bursts when it was moving to the Earth. Our results may partly illustrate that the duration of fast flows during three phases of substorm becomes short near the Earth. The results are consistent with the past results that fast flows intrude to places earthward the typical braking region.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40931054, 41174141 and 40904042)the National Basic Research Program of China ("973" Project)(Grant No. 2011CB811404)+1 种基金Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories (Grant No. KP201104)supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists (Grant No. 2009S1-54)
文摘On the basis of the plasma, electric and magnetic fields jointly observed by Cluster and the Double Star TC-I spacecraft in the Earth＇s magnetotail, we have investigated the earthward flow bursts by introducing the momentum equation in the X-direction in the ideal conditions of magneto hydrodynamics （MHD）. One earthward flow burst with a peak in excess of 500 km/s was selected, when the four spacecraft of Cluster were located around -16 RE and TC-1 was located around -10 RE in the X-direction. The inter-spacecraft distances in Y and Z directions were smaller than the statistical spatial scales of the bursty bulk flows. When the Y components of E and -VxB were compared, there was no clear breakdown of the frozen-in condition during the earthward flow burst. With the measured plasma and magnetic parameters from two spacecraft at different positions in the magnetotail, the X component of the pressure gradient was calculated. Magnetic tension was calculated using the mag- netic field measured at four points, which could be compared with the assumed constant in the past research with single satel- lite. When the pressure gradient and the magnetic tension were put into the MHD momentum equation, some samples of the earthward flow bursts were accelerated and some were decelerated. The braking process of the earthward flow burst was more complicated than what the past results had shown. The accelerated samples accounted for about one third of the whole earth- ward flow bursts and discontinuously located among the decelerated elements. The original single earthward flow burst event might be split into several short flow bursts when it was moving to the Earth. Our results may partly illustrate that the duration of fast flows during three phases of substorm becomes short near the Earth. The results are consistent with the past results that fast flows intrude to places earthward the typical braking region.
