121 research outputs found

    On the solar wind control of cusp aurora during northward IMF

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    [1] The location of cusp aurora during northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions and the solar wind control of that location are explored. The cusp aurora is imaged by the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration\u27s (IMAGE) Far Ultraviolet Instrument (FUV). Predicted locations of the cusp aurora were computed by assuming anti-parallel reconnection between the observed IMF orientation and the 1996 Tsyganenko model magnetopause magnetic field. While the majority of anti-parallel reconnection sites tailward of the cusp, when mapped to the ionosphere, coincide with the observed cusp aurora, the anti-parallel merging hypothesis cannot explain certain aspects of the observations, including its location dependence with IMF + By

    Cluster Observations of Bow Shock Energetic Ion Transport Through the Magnetosheath into the Cusp

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    The observation of energetic particles by polar orbiting satellites in the magnetospheric cusp resulted in a controversy about their source region. It has been suggested that these cusp energetic particles (CEP) with significant fluxes from magnetosheath energies up to several hundred keV/e are accelerated locally in the cusp by the turbulence found in cusp diamagnetic cavities (CDC). As an alternative to the local acceleration region, the quasi‐parallel shock is successful as a source region for CEP events. Energetic ions accelerated at the bow shock can be transported downstream and enter the cusp along newly reconnected field lines. Composition and energy spectra of these CEP events resemble those of bow shock energetic diffuse ions. This study investigates a northern cusp pass by the Cluster satellites that encountered two CDCs with CEP ions. We use recently developed techniques to determine the location of the reconnection site at the magnetopause, draping interplanetary magnetic field lines over the magnetopause and mapping those field lines back into the solar wind to show magnetic connection of the cusp regions, Earth’s bow shock, and upstream region. Energetic ions are also observed outside the magnetopause in the boundary layer streaming from the quasi‐parallel shock toward the cusp which supports an outside source region for CEP ions

    First IBEX observations of the terrestrial plasma sheet and a possible disconnection event

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    The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission has recently provided the first all-sky maps of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) emitted from the edge of the heliosphere as well as the first observations of ENAs from the Moon and from the magnetosheath stagnation region at the nose of the magnetosphere. This study provides the first IBEX images of the ENA emissions from the nightside magnetosphere and plasma sheet. We show images from two IBEX orbits: one that displays typical plasma sheet emissions, which correlate reasonably well with a model magnetic field, and a second that shows a significant intensification that may indicate a near-Earth (similar to 10 R(E) behind the Earth) disconnection event. IBEX observations from similar to 0.5-6 keV indicate the simultaneous addition of both a hot (several keV) and colder (similar to 700 eV) component during the intensification; if IBEX directly observed magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail, the hot component may signify the plasma energization

    Evidence of Multiple Reconnection Lines at the Magnetopause from Cusp Observations

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    Recent global hybrid simulations investigated the formation of flux transfer events (FTEs) and their convection and interaction with the cusp. Based on these simulations, we have analyzed several Polar cusp crossings in the Northern Hemisphere to search for the signature of such FTEs in the energy distribution of downward precipitating ions: precipitating ion beams at different energies parallel to the ambient magnetic field and overlapping in time. Overlapping ion distributions in the cusp are usually attributed to a combination of variable ion acceleration during the magnetopause crossing together with the time-of-flight effect from the entry point to the observing satellite. Most "step up" ion cusp structures (steps in the ion energy dispersions) only overlap for the populations with large pitch angles and not for the parallel streaming populations. Such cusp structures are the signatures predicted by the pulsed reconnection model, where the reconnection rate at the magnetopause decreased to zero, physically separating convecting flux tubes and their parallel streaming ions. However, several Polar cusp events discussed in this study also show an energy overlap for parallel-streaming precipitating ions. This condition might be caused by reopening an already reconnected field line, forming a magnetic island (flux rope) at the magnetopause similar to that reported in global MHD and Hybrid simulation

    The number of eggs in 1 kg of fish-roe of some warm-water fish species

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    This article discusses our analysis of over 2,000 articles published within 20 top business and management journals. The article empirically demonstrates how little attention is being paid by the work published within these journals to contemporary political issues across the globe. We also demonstrate the extent to which the same is true of `critical' journals such as Organization . To this end we argue that mass scholarly ranking mechanisms, such as the British Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), create a general state of myopia on the part of business and management scholars towards a variety of political issues, even making a virtue out of ignorance in this regard. We suggest that this is not simply a problem for critical management studies and proceed to raise the question of what the responsibility of business and management academia actually is

    Neutral Atom Imaging of the Solar Wind‐Magnetosphere‐Exosphere Interaction Near the Subsolar Magnetopause

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    Energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) created by charge‐exchange of ions with the Earth's hydrogen exosphere near the subsolar magnetopause yield information on the distribution of plasma in the outer magnetosphere and magnetosheath. ENA observations from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) are used to image magnetosheath plasma and, for the first time, low‐energy magnetospheric plasma near the magnetopause. These images show that magnetosheath plasma is distributed fairly evenly near the subsolar magnetopause; however, low‐energy magnetospheric plasma is not distributed evenly in the outer magnetosphere. Simultaneous images and in situ observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft from November 2015 (during the solar cycle declining phase) are used to derive the exospheric density. The ~11–17 cm−3 density at 10 RE is similar to that obtained previously for solar minimum. Thus, these combined results indicate that the exospheric density 10 RE from the Earth may have a weak dependence on solar cycle

    High‐density magnetospheric He+ at the dayside magnetopause and its effect on magnetic reconnection

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    Observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission are used to quantify the maximum effect of magnetospheric H+ and He+ on dayside magnetopause reconnection. A data base of current-sheet crossings from the first 2 years of the MMS mission is used to identify magnetopause crossings with the highest He+ concentrations. While all of these magnetopause crossings exhibit evidence of plasmaspheric plume material, only half of the crossings are directly associated with plasmaspheric plumes. The He+ density varies dramatically within the magnetosphere adjacent to the magnetopause, with density variations of an order of magnitude on timescales as short as 10 s, the time resolution of the composition instrument on MMS. Plasma wave observations are used to determine the total electron density, and composition measurements are used to determine the mass density in the magnetosheath and magnetosphere. These mass densities are then used with the magnetic field observations to determine the theoretical reduction in the reconnection rate at the magnetopause. The presence of high-density plasmaspheric plume material at the magnetopause causes transient reductions in the reconnection rate of up to ∼40%.publishedVersio
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