Magnetopause at small scales
Splinter session at the
3rd Cluster Workshop
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, September 18-20, 2002
Co-chairs IRFU ( Stephan Buchert, Andris Vaivads), SSL (Stuart Bale, Forrest Mozer).
The idea of the session is to look at
the magnetopause from small scales (electron gyroradius and electron inertial
length) up to mesoscales (ion gyroradius and ion inertial length). The topics
of interest could be the structure of the electron (if found) and ion diffusion
regions, small scale current sheets, different waves (e.g. broadband, lower
hybrid, whistlers) or solitary structures (e.g. electron holes) inside or
close to the magnetopause.
We also briefly reviewed study results from the
Magnetopause splinter session from Cluster Workshop I.
Data plots
You are encouraged to present information on
- Coverage (or lack thereof) for different instruments
- Comments or plots of relevance for the intervals listed above, in particular for first priority events
- Other intervals of interest
First priority events |
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| DATE | Data | Comments |
| 2002 Feb 06 [037] 0810-0815 0850-0900 (0948-0953) |
Solar wind:
Geotail Cluster: 6h Quicklook orbit EBspectra 0810-0815 0850-0900 0948-0953 CIS 07-10 0810-0815 0850-0900 EFW 0810-0815 0850-0900 FGM: 05-10 08-10 PEACE: text, C1234 LEAA 0800-1000, C3 spinpad 0810-0815 0850-0900 0948-0953, 3D C4 0948-0953 C2 0854:10-0855:20 C4 0811:25-0812:35 STAFF 06-09 IMAGE: FUV |
Page with more details on this
event.
During several hours there are multiple crossings of MP and/or PS/BL.
From those two intervals have been chosen within which there are also EFW
internal burst data available. |
| 2002 Mar 02 [061] 0329-0334 |
Solar wind:
ACE Cluster: 6h Quicklook orbit EBspectra: 0329-0334 CIS 03-04 0329-0334 EFW: 0329-0334 FGM: 00-05 0320-0355 PEACE: 03-05 0330-0332, spinpad 03-05, text STAFF 03-06 WHISPER: 0315-0400 0329-0333 |
Single MP outbound crossing at 0331:08 Also in High altitude cusp session. general sequence: cusp -> magnetosphere -> sheath B increase before the crossing, dropout afterwards. V~35km/s and the thickness of current layer ~500km. CIS: clear boundary layer present for ~ 2min WHISPER: Langmuire waves, could be due to field-aligned low energy e- beams Density versus position has been derived. 0329 precursor of MP inside magnetosphere. |
| 2002 Apr 02 [092] 0029-0033 |
SW:
Wind
ACE Cluster: 6h Quicklook orbit EBspectra 0029-0033 CIS 00-01 0029-0035 EFW: 0029-0033 FGM: 0014-0044 PEACE: 0029-0033 0030-0031, SPINPAD 01-02 0025-0035 text STAFF 00-03 WBD: sp. 1t 1f 2t 2f |
MP outbound crossing at 0031. EFW internal burst during the crossing,
broad band waves, electron holes. Also in High altitude cusp sessio n. CIS: very high velocity ~500 km/s, magnetic compression 00:30, also density jumps up |
Lower priority events |
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| 2002 Mar 30 1311-1314 1328-1330 |
Solar wind:
ACE
Wind Cluster: 6h Quicklook orbit EBspectra: 1311-1314 1328-1330 CIS 13-14 EFW: 1311-1314 1328-1330 FGM: 13-14 IMAGE: FUV |
MP outbound crossing ~1312UT and inbound crossing ~1313-1315UT. EFW internal burst during the outbound crossing. MP outbound crossing at 1328:40. CIS ~1312 UT crossing without boundary layer EDI: Integration of normal velocity gives distance to magnetopause Very rapid entry into sheath, thin magnetopause, about 1 ion gyro radius 13:11 crossing into BL 13:28 crossing into magnetosphere |
| 2002 Jan 11 0500-0750 |
Solar wind:
ACE
Geotail Cluster: 6h Quicklook CIS 0630-0750 EFW: 0500-0750 WBD: spectra IMAGE: FUV |
Large separation, multiple MP crossings for several hours. WBD 0404-0615 s/c1. |
| 2002 Feb 25 0822-0832 |
Solar wind:
ACE Cluster: 6h Quicklook orbit EBspectra 0822-0832 CIS: 08-09 EFW: 0822-0832 FGM: 0530-1000 08-10 0810-0840 IMAGE: FUV |
Inbound crossing between boundary layer and plasma sheet, ~0828.
|B| hole at ~0825:30. Also in High altitude cusp session. [A few minutes before interval there are EFW internal bursts in density gradients without current sheets (0813:06-16 s/c3, 0816:54-17:04 s/c 4).] |
| 2002 Apr 18 1724-1732 |
Solar wind:
ACE Cluster: 6h Quicklook EBspectra 1724-1734 CIS 17-18 EFW: 1724-1732 |
outbound crossing of magnetopause, can be cusp region. |
Subjects to investigate in the near future |
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| Subjects | Investigators | Comments |
| Thin sheets | Andris, Mats | High E fluctuations, current densities ~0.1 mA/m^2 sheet thickness ~10km, or a few electron gyro radii Earthward Poynting flux Field-aligned e- beams consistent with acceleration according potential difference |
| Ion and Electron diffusion regions | Forrest, Stuart | ion diffusion regions have a complex 3d structure even in a simple
2d Hall-MHD model e- diffusion region: E not equal Ve x B, usually inside ion diffusion region |
| FTE structure near magnetopause | Stephan, Malcolm | Magnetic structure/topology, electric fields, ion and e- beams |
| Solitary structures | Jolene | |
last modified on Monday, 03-Feb-2003 15:30:04 CET