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Reconstruction of plasmoid and traveling compression region in the near-Earth magnetotail

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Abstract

Cluster spacecraft observed an earthward flowing plasmoid along with a travelling compression region (TCR) structure in southern plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) at 21:09 UT of September 19, 2001. We have reconstructed the two-dimensional topology of the magnetic field structure observed by C1 using Grad-Shafranov reconstruction method. Results show that C1 passed through part of a plasmoid, which compressed the lobe magnetic field and formed a TCR. The size of the whole plasmoid structure in X direction is estimated to be about 3 R E. Furthermore, using multi-spacecraft observations, we have found some detailed information about this structure. First, C1 observed bi-streaming electron components, which supports our suggestion that the spacecraft passed through closed field lines. Second, a small magnetic field perturbation within this plasmoid accompanied by slight decrease in electron flux suggests that a flux rope core might exist at the center of the plasmoid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    ShangWen Lu, QiuGang Zong & YongFu Wang

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece

    Ioannis Vogiatzis

  3. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Physics, Shandong University at Weihai, Weihai, 264209, China

    AnMin Tian

Authors
  1. ShangWen Lu
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  2. QiuGang Zong
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  3. Ioannis Vogiatzis
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  4. YongFu Wang
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  5. AnMin Tian
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Correspondence to QiuGang Zong.

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Lu, S., Zong, Q., Vogiatzis, I. et al. Reconstruction of plasmoid and traveling compression region in the near-Earth magnetotail. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 58, 330–337 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-014-5747-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-014-5747-2

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