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Magnetotail Dynamics: Survey of Recent Progress

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Book cover The Dynamic Magnetosphere

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

Abstract

This survey focuses on three topics of magnetotail dynamics which constitute the vast majority of publications on tail dynamics in the period of this survey, from about mid 2007 to mid 2009: (1) the formation and properties of thin current sheets, (2) the timing of characteristic features around substorm onset, and (3) the properties of fast plasma flows, commonly denoted “bursty bulk flows” (BBFs), and associated dipolarization events. It is concluded that current sheet thinning from external deformation, accompanied by a reduction of B z provides a viable mechanism for the onset of current sheet activity. After the first THEMIS results, the substorm onset timing remains controversial. However, it can be concluded that the onset arc brightening cannot be the consequence of dipolarization (current disruption) or reconnection and that there is a strong connection between earthward flow bursts and dipolarization events.

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Acknowledgements

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, supported by grants from NASA’s MMS/SMART, Heliophysics Theory, and SR&T Programs.

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  1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    Joachim Birn

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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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Birn, J. (2011). Magnetotail Dynamics: Survey of Recent Progress. 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_4

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