Void structure of O⁺ ions in the inner magnetosphere observed by the Van Allen Probes

The Van Allen Probes Helium Oxygen Proton Electron instrument observed a new type of enhancement of O⁺ ions in the inner magnetosphere during substorms. As the satellite moved outward in the premidnight sector, the flux of the O⁺ ions with energy ~10 keV appeared first in the energy-time spectrograms. Then, the enhancement of the flux spread toward high and low energies. The enhanced flux of the O⁺ ions with the highest energy remained, whereas the flux of the ions with lower energy vanished near apogee, forming what we call the void structure. The structure cannot be found in the H⁺ spectrogram. We studied the generation mechanism of this structure by using numerical simulation. We traced the trajectories of O⁺ ions in the electric and magnetic fields from the global magnetohydrodynamics simulation and calculated the flux of O⁺ ions in the inner magnetosphere in accordance with the Liouville theorem. The simulated spectrograms are well consistent with the ones observed by Van Allen Probes. We suggest the following processes. (1) When magnetic reconnection starts, an intensive equatorward and tailward plasma flow appears in the plasma lobe. (2) The flow transports plasma from the lobe to the plasma sheet where the radius of curvature of the magnetic field line is small. (3) The intensive dawn-dusk electric field transports the O⁺ ions earthward and accelerates them nonadiabatically to an energy threshold; (4) the void structure appears at energies below the threshold

Oxygen ion dynamics in the Earth's ring current: Van Allen probes observations

Oxygen (O+) enhancements in the inner magnetosphere are often observed during geomagnetically active times, such as geomagnetic storms. In this study, we quantitatively examine the difference in ring current dynamics with and without a substantial O+ ion population based on almost 6 years of Van Allen Probes observations. Our results have not only confirmed previous finding of the role of O+ ions to the ring current but also found that abundant O+ ions are always present during large storms when sym-H < -60 nT without exception, whilst having the pressure ratio () between O+ and proton (H+) larger than 0.8 and occasionally even larger than 1 when L < 3. Simultaneously, the pressure anisotropy decreases with decreasing sym-H and increasing L shell. The pressure anisotropy decrease during the storm main phase is likely related to the pitch angle isotropization processes. In addition, we find that increases during the storm main phase and then decreases during the storm recovery phase, suggesting faster buildup and decay of O+ pressure compared to H+ ions, which are probably associated with some species dependent source and/or energization as well as loss processes in the inner magnetosphere.Accepted manuscrip

Global simulation of EMIC wave excitation during the 21 April 2001 storm from coupled RCM-RAM-HOTRAY modeling

The global distribution and spectral properties of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves in the He+ band are simulated for the 21 April 2001 storm using a combination of three different codes: the Rice Convection Model, the Ring current-Atmospheric interactions Model, and the HOTRAY ray tracing code (incorporated with growth rate solver). During the storm main phase, injected ions exhibit a non-Maxwellian distribution with pronounced phase space density minima at energies around a few keV. Ring current H+-injected from the plasma sheet provides the source of free energy for EMIC excitation during the storm. Significant wave gain is confined to a limited spatial region inside the storm time plume and maximizes at the eastward edge of the plume in the dusk and premidnight sector. The excited waves are also able to resonate and scatter relativistic electrons, but the minimum electron resonant energy is generally above 3 MeV

Signature of a Heliotail Organized by the Solar Magnetic Field and the Role of Nonideal Processes in Modeled IBEX ENA Maps: A Comparison of the BU and Moscow MHD Models

Energetic neutral atom (ENA) models typically require post-processing routines to convert the distributions of plasma and H atoms into ENA maps. Here we investigate how two kinetic-MHD models of the heliosphere (the BU and Moscow models) manifest in modeled ENA maps using the same prescription and how they compare with Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) observations. Both MHD models treat the solar wind as a single-ion plasma for protons, which include thermal solar wind ions, pick-up ions (PUIs), and electrons. Our ENA prescription partitions the plasma into three distinct ion populations (thermal solar wind, PUIs transmitted and ones energized at the termination shock) and models the populations with Maxwellian distributions. Both kinetic-MHD heliospheric models produce a heliotail with heliosheath plasma that is organized by the solar magnetic field into two distinct north and south columns that become lobes of high mass flux flowing down the heliotail; however, in the BU model, the ISM flows between the two lobes at distances in the heliotail larger than 300 au. While our prescription produces similar ENA maps for the two different plasma and H atom solutions at the IBEX-Hi energy range (0.5–6 keV), the modeled ENA maps require a scaling factor of ∼2 to be in agreement with the data. This problem is present in other ENA models with the Maxwellian approximation of multiple ion species and indicates that either a higher neutral density or some acceleration of PUIs in the heliosheath is required

The Role of Mesoscale Plasma Sheet Dynamics in Ring Current Formation

During geomagnetically active periods ions are transported from the magnetotail into the inner magnetosphere and accelerated to energies of tens to hundreds of keV. These energetic ions, of mixed composition with the most important species being H+ and O+, become the dominant source of plasma pressure in the inner magnetosphere. Ion transport and acceleration can occur at different spatial and temporal scales ranging from global quasi-steady convection to localized impulsive injection events and may depend on the ion gyroradius. In this study we ascertain the relative importance of mesoscale flow structures and the effects of ion non-adiabaticity on the produced ring current. For this we use: global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to generate self-consistent electromagnetic fields under typical driving conditions which exhibit bursty bulk flows (BBFs); and injected test particles, initialized to match the plasma moments of the MHD simulation, and subsequently evolved according to the kinetic equations of motion. We show that the BBFs produced by our simulation reproduce thermodynamic and magnetic statistics from in situ measurements and are numerically robust. Mining the simulation data we create a data set, over a billion points, connecting particle transport to characteristics of the MHD flow. From this we show that mesoscale bubbles, localized depleted entropy regions, and particle gradient drifts are critical for ion transport. Finally we show, using identical particle ensembles with varying mass, that O+ non-adiabaticity creates qualitative differences in energization and spatial distribution while H+ non-adiabaticity has non-negligible implications for loss timescales

The 17 March 2013 storm: Synergy of observations related to electric field modes and their ionospheric and magnetospheric Effects

The main phase of the 17 March 2013 storm had excellent coverage from groundâ based instruments and from lowâ and highâ altitude spacecraft, allowing for evaluation of the relations between major storm time phenomena that are often considered separately. The shock impact with its concurrent southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) immediately drove dramatic poleward expansion of the poleward boundary of the auroral oval (implying strong nightside reconnection), strong auroral activity, and strong penetrating midlatitude convection and ionospheric currents. This was followed by periods of southward IMF driving of electric fields that were at first relatively smooth as often employed in storm modeling but then became extremely bursty and structured associated with equatorward extending auroral streamers. The auroral oval did not expand much further poleward during these two latter periods, suggesting a lower overall nightside reconnection rate than that during the first period and approximate balance with dayside reconnection. Characteristics of these three modes of driving were reflected in horizontal and fieldâ aligned currents. Equatorward expansion of the auroral oval occurred predominantly during the structured convection mode, when electric fields became extremely bursty. The period of this third mode also approximately corresponded to the time of largest equatorward motion of the ionospheric trough, of apparent transport of high total electron content (TEC) features into the auroral oval from the polar cap, and of largest earthward injection of ions and electrons into the ring current. The enhanced responses of the aurora, currents, TEC, and the ring current indicate a common driving of all these storm time features during the bursty convection mode period.Key PointsStorm had excellent ground/space data coverage, allowing evaluation of relations between major storm phenomena often considered separatelyIdentified three southward IMF electric fields driving modes that were reflected in the aurora and ionospheric and fieldâ aligned currentsThe third mode was extremely bursty, giving common driving of auroral and current structures, TEC changes, and ring current injectionPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135355/1/jgra53033_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135355/2/jgra53033.pd

Van Allen probes, NOAA, GOES, and ground observations of an intense EMIC wave event extending over 12 h in magnetic local time

Although most studies of the effects of EMIC waves on Earth's outer radiation belt have focused on events in the afternoon sector in the outer plasmasphere or plume region, strong magnetospheric compressions provide an additional stimulus for EMIC wave generation across a large range of local times and L shells. We present here observations of the effects of a wave event on February 23, 2014 that extended over 8 hours in UT and over 12 hours in local time, stimulated by a gradual 4-hour rise and subsequent sharp increases in solar wind pressure. Large-amplitude linearly polarized hydrogen band EMIC waves (up to 25 nT p-p) appeared for over 4 hours at both Van Allen Probes, from late morning through local noon, when these spacecraft were outside the plasmapause, with densities ~5-20 cm-3. Waves were also observed by ground-based induction magnetometers in Antarctica (near dawn), Finland (near local noon), Russia (in the afternoon), and in Canada (from dusk to midnight). Ten passes of NOAA-POES and METOP satellites near the northern footpoint of the Van Allen Probes observed 30-80 keV subauroral proton precipitation, often over extended L shell ranges; other passes identified a narrow L-shell region of precipitation over Canada. Observations of relativistic electrons by the Van Allen Probes showed that the fluxes of more field-aligned and more energetic radiation belt electrons were reduced in response to both the emission over Canada and the more spatially extended emission associated with the compression, confirming the effectiveness of EMIC-induced loss processes for this event

Substorm‐Ring Current Coupling:A Comparison of Isolated and Compound Substorms

Substorms are a highly variable process, which can occur as an isolated event or as part of a sequence of multiple substorms (compound substorms). In this study we identify how the low‐energy population of the ring current and subsequent energization varies for isolated substorms compared to the first substorm of a compound event. Using observations of H+ and O+ ions (1 eV to 50 keV) from the Helium Oxygen Proton Electron instrument onboard Van Allen Probe A, we determine the energy content of the ring current in L‐MLT space. We observe that the ring current energy content is significantly enhanced during compound substorms as compared to isolated substorms by ∼20–30%. Furthermore, we observe a significantly larger magnitude of energization (by ∼40–50%) following the onset of compound substorms relative to isolated substorms. Analysis suggests that the differences predominantly arise due to a sustained enhancement in dayside driving associated with compound substorms compared to isolated substorms. The strong solar wind driving prior to onset results in important differences in the time history of the magnetosphere, generating significantly different ring current conditions and responses to substorms. The observations reveal information about the substorm injected population and the transport of the plasma in the inner magnetosphere