A statistical and event study of magnetotail dipolarization fronts
A study of dipolarization fronts of the Earth's magnetotail has been performed using seven years (2001–2007) of Cluster data. Events both with and without high-speed earthward flows are included. A superposed epoch analysis of the data shows that the dipolarization is preceeded by a decrease...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2011-09-01
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| Series: | Annales Geophysicae |
| Online Access: | https://www.ann-geophys.net/29/1537/2011/angeo-29-1537-2011.pdf |
| Summary: | A study of dipolarization fronts of the Earth's magnetotail has been
performed using seven years (2001–2007) of Cluster data. Events both with and
without high-speed earthward flows are included. A superposed epoch analysis
of the data shows that the dipolarization is preceeded by a decrease of
<I>B</I><sub>z</sub> before the increase. The duration of the dipolarization tends to
be decreasing with increasing velocity of the plasma flows. The thickness of
the dipolarization front is on average 1.8 plasma inertial lengths,
independent of the plasma velocity. We find that the events fall into two
categories: Earthward and tailward moving dipolarizations. The dipolarization
fronts can be assumed to be tangential discontinuities and the currents on
the front have mainly a perpendicular component. |
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| ISSN: | 0992-7689 1432-0576 |