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Physical Processes for Magnetospheric Substorm Expansion Onsets

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The Dynamic Magnetosphere

Part of the book series: IAGA Special Sopron Book Series ((IAGA,volume 3))

Abstract

A major challenge in magnetospheric research is to identify the physical processes for magnetospheric substorm expansion onsets. Recent abundance of observations from Geotail, Cluster, and Themis missions has added impetus to substorm research. Observations that are linked to substorm expansion onsets are discussed. Topics encompassed in this review are (1) the external conditions in the solar wind for substorm onset, (2) observations prior to onset, (3) observations immediately after onset, (4) time history approach, and (5) system-wide approach that can reveal general characteristics of the physical processes for onset. The implications for the substorm onset processes are discussed based on these observations.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the NSF grant ATM-0630912 and NASA grants NNX09AI53G and NNX07AQ50G to The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. We acknowledge E. Donovan for NORSTAR data, S. B. Mende and E. Donovan for THEMIS GBO ASC data, H. Réme for Cluster/CIS data and V. Angelopoulos for THEMIS data through CDAWeb. Section 5.5 was added at the request of the reviewer.

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  1. Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, USA

    Anthony T.Y. Lui

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Correspondence to Anthony T.Y. Lui .

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  1. Spacecraft Engineering, Canadian Space Agency, route de l'Aeroport 6767, St.-Hubert, J3Y 8Y9, Québec, Canada

    William Liu

  2. Astronautical Science (ISAS), Institute of Space &, Yoshinodai 3-1-1, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 229-8510, Japan

    Masaki Fujimoto

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Lui, A.T. (2011). Physical Processes for Magnetospheric Substorm Expansion Onsets. In: Liu, W., Fujimoto, M. (eds) The Dynamic Magnetosphere. IAGA Special Sopron Book Series, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0501-2_5

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