Abstract
Bursty Bulk Flows (BBFs) are an important means of transporting magnetic flux and plasma through the Earth’s magnetosphere and can be explained as entropy depleted flux tubes (plasma bubbles) propagating earthward under the action of the interchange instability. For 10 years ESA’s Cluster spacecraft have been making measurements of BBFs in the magnetotail at spacecraft separations ranging from 100 to 10,000 km. Here we compare three BBFs observed by Cluster at three different spacecraft separations and discuss some of the similarities and differences between the features observed during each event, with particular reference to field-aligned currents and the newly-discovered wake region observed behind and around earthward moving flux tubes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Angelopoulos V, Baumjohann W, Kennel CF, Coronti FV, Kivelson MG, Pellat R, Walker RJ, Luehr H, Paschmann G (1992) Bursty bulk flows in the inner central plasma sheet. J Geophys Res 97:4027
Balogh A, Carr CM, Acuna MH, Dunlop MW, Beek TJ, Brown P, Fornaçon KH, Georgescu E, Glassmeier KH, Harris J, Musmann G, Oddy T, Schwingenschuh K (2001) The Cluster Magnetic Field Investigation: overview of in-flight performance and initial results. Ann Geophys 19:1207
Birn J, Raeder J, Wang Y, Wolf R, Hesse M (2004) On the propagation of bubbles in the geomagnetic tail. Ann Geophys 22:1773
Chen CX, Wolf RA (1993) Interpretation of high-speed flows in the plasma sheet. J Geophys Res 98:21409
Dunlop MW, Southwood DJ, Glassmeier K, Neubauer FM (1988) Analysis of multipoint magnetometer data. Adv Space Res 8:273. doi:10.1016/0273-1177(88)90141-X
Forsyth C, Lester M, Cowley SWH, Dandouras I, Fazakerley AN, Fear RC, Frey HU, Grocott A, Kadokura A, Lucek E, Rème H, Milan SE, Watermann J (2008) Observed tail current systems associated with bursty bulk flows and auroral streamers during a period of multiple substorms. Ann Geophys 26:167
Forsyth C, Lester M, Fazakerley AN, Owen CJ, Walsh AP (2010) Planet Space Sci 59(7): 598–605
Johnstone AD, Alsop C, Burge S, Carter PJ, Coates AJ, Coker AJ, Fazakerley AN, Grande M, Gowen RA, Gurgiolo C, Hancock BK, Narheim B, Preece A, Sheather PH, Winningham JD, Woodliffe RD (1997) PEACE: A Plasma Electron and Current Experiment. Space Sci Rev 79:351
Nakamura R, Baumjohann W, Mouikis C, Kistler LM, Runov A, Volwerk M, Asano Y, Z. Vörös, Zhang TL, Klecker B, Rème H, Balogh A (2004) Spatial scale of high-speed flows in the plasma sheet observed by Cluster. Geophys Res Lett 31:9804. doi:10.1029/2004GL019558
Panov EV, Nakamura R, Baumjohann W, Angelopoulos V, Petrukovich AA, Retinò A, Volwerk M, Takada T, Glassmeier K, McFadden JP, Larson D (2010) Multiple overshoot and rebound of a bursty bulk flow. Geophys Res Lett 37:L08103. doi:10.1029/2009GL041971
Rème H et al (2001) First multispacecraft ion measurements in and near the Earth’s magnetosphere with the identical Cluster ion spectrometry (CIS) experiment. Ann Geophys 19:1303
Robert P, Dunlop MW, Roux A, Chanteur G (1998) Accuracy of Current Density Determination. In: Pashmann G, Daly PW (eds) Analysis methods for multi-spacecraft data. International Space Science Institute, Bern, p 395
Sergeev VA, Angelopoulos V, Gosling JT, Cattell CA, Russell CT (1996) Detection of localized, plasma-depleted flux tubes or bubbles in the midtail plasma sheet. J Geophys Res 101:10817. doi:10.1029/96JA00460
Sitnov MI, Guzdar PN, Swisdak M (2005) On the formation of a plasma bubble. Geophys Res Lett 32:16103. doi:10.1029/2005GL023585
Sitnov MI, Swisdak M, Divin AV (2009) Dipolarization fronts as a signature of transient reconnection in the magnetotail. J Geophys Res 114(A13):4202. doi:10.1029/2008JA013980
Slavin JA, Lepping RP, Gjerloev J, Fairfield DH, Hesse M, Owen CJ, Moldwin MB, Nagai T, Ieda A, Mukai T (2003) Geotail observations of magnetic flux ropes in the plasma sheet. J Geophys Res 108:1015
Walsh AP, Fazakerley AN, Lahiff AD, Volwerk M, Grocott A, Dunlop M, Lui T, Kistler L, Lester M, Mouikis C, Pu Z, Shen C, Shi J, Taylor MG, Lucek E, Zhang TL, Dandouras I (2009) Cluster and Double Star Multipoint Observations of a Plasma Bubble. Ann Geophys 27:725
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the ESA Cluster Active Archive and the FGM, CIS and PEACE instrument teams for providing the data employed in this study. Some data analysis was done with QSAS. The authors were funded by UK STFC grant number PP/E/001173/1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Walsh, A.P., Forsyth, C. (2011). Cluster Observations of Plasma Bubbles, BBFs and Their Wakes. 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_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0501-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0500-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0501-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)