IMF北向时磁层顶重联的模拟研究

本文基于自己开发的全球三维磁层模型,模拟研究了IMF(Interplanetary Magnetic Field)北向时磁层顶重联及磁尾结构.结果发现磁层顶附近存在两种典型的重联过程:一是高纬极尖区IMF与地球磁场的重联,这与空间观测证据和前人的模拟结果是一致的;二是重联后一端在太阳风中另一端与地球相连的磁力线在向磁尾运动中,会发生弯曲、拖曳,在磁尾晨昏侧低纬区域可与尾瓣开放磁力线满足重联条件而再次发生重联.我们认为前一重联会使磁尾等离子片产生与IMF时钟角方向相反的旋转;而后者可重新形成闭合磁力线,可能是LLBL(Low Latitude Boundary Layer)形成的重要原因.     

极区电离层对IMF Bz 4次快速转向的响应——EISCAT/ESR雷达观测

利用EISCAT VHF和EISCAT Svalbard(ESR)雷达观测数据,对2003年2月12日IMF Bz分量4次快速方向转换期间,极区电离层,尤其是极尖/极隙区的响应特征进行了分析研究.随着IMF Bz方向的多次快速变化,地面雷达观测到极尖/极隙区所在位置随着开放-闭合磁力线边界在纬度方向上来回移动.在此期间,极区电离层等离子体水平对流多次反向,表现出与IMF Bz分量强的负相关性.进一步分析表明:极区磁层-电离层系统在日侧对IMF极性变化的平均响应时间约为3 min.     

极区电离层对IMF Bz 4次快速转向的响应——EISCAT/ESR雷达观测

利用EISCAT VHF和EISCAT Svalbard（ESR）雷达观测数据,对2003年2月12日IMF B_z分量4次快速方向转换期间,极区电离层,尤其是极尖/极隙区的响应特征进行了分析研究.随着IMF B_z方向的多次快速变化,地面雷达观测到极尖/极隙区所在位置随着开放-闭合磁力线边界在纬度方向上来回移动.在此期间,极区电离层等离子体水平对流多次反向,表现出与IMF B_z分量强的负相关性.进一步分析表明：极区磁层-电离层系统在日侧对IMF极性变化的平均响应时间约为3 min.     

不考虑磁层顶磁重联的全球三维MHD模型

本文介绍了一个新的磁层全球三维MHD模型,该模型可通过把IMF和地球磁场分开处理的方法“关闭”磁层顶的磁重联,从而可直观地显示不同IMF条件下磁层顶的IMF与地磁场的反平行区域,即磁重联最可能发生的地方,结果表示,IMFBx分量对磁层顶磁重联有重要影响。由于可关闭磁重联,该模型还可有效地研究有无磁重联时,太阳风对磁层位形（如晨-昏不对称性）、粒子输运等重要问题的影响,有助于揭示磁层物理现象的基本特性。     

太阳磁场方向变化对于地球大气温度异常变化的意义

本文根据苏黎世天文台太阳黑子11年周期资料和太阳黑子磁场磁性变化周期特征，构建了太阳黑子磁场磁性指数MI(Magnetic Index)时间序列.分析表明：太阳活动磁性周期平均长度为222年，但是每个周期长度是不相等的；多数情况周期短时磁性指数较大，对应太阳活动水平强；周期变长时磁性指数较小，对应太阳活动水平较弱；太阳黑子磁场磁性指数序列也具有80～90年的世纪周期. 进一步研究指出，太阳黑子磁场磁性指数曲线由极小值升至极大值时期，太阳磁场南向，行星际磁场磁力线与地磁场磁力线重联，此时磁层为开磁层，太阳风将携带大量等离子体从向阳面进入地球磁层，从而使输入的动量、能量和物质大幅度增加，与北半球对流层增温时期对应；太阳黑子磁场磁性指数曲线由极大值下降至极小值时期，太阳磁场北向，与磁层顶地磁场同向，行星际磁场不会与地磁场发生重联，此时磁层为闭磁层，这种情况下，只有少数带电粒子能够穿越磁力线进入地球磁层，与北半球对流层降温时期对应.     

磁层顶高纬边界层的瞬时重联过程

用二维可压缩的ＭＨＤ模型模拟研究了北半球背阳面磁层顶区的瞬时重联过程．结果表明，当行星际磁场（ＩＭＦ）具有南向Ｂｚ分量和背太阳向Ｂｘ分量时，ＩＭＦ与地磁场联接，磁层顶向外扩张，在等离子体幔区可形成流体旋涡，磁力线被扭曲，但不易形成磁涡旋；当ＩＭＦ具有北向Ｂｚ分量时，不论Ｂｘ分量是背向太阳或指向太阳，都可发生瞬时重联，而且当ＩＭＦＢｘ分量与地磁场Ｂｘ分量反向时，在等离子体幔区更易形成磁涡旋．这两种情况，在磁层顶边界层区都能产生多层的电流片．     

磁尾地向传播等离子体团的模拟研究

卫星观测证实了磁尾等离子体团与亚暴活动的相关性,除了具有北-南双极特征的尾向传播等离子体团外,还发现地向传播等离子体团,它们表现为南-北双极中性片事件和南-北双极瓣区讯号. 资料分析表明:南-北双极讯号的出现几率远低于北-南双极讯号,并且南-北双极事件主要发生于行星际磁场北向和地磁宁静条件,它们往往与小的孤立的地磁亚暴相关. 本文根据地磁宁静时期(IMF Bz北向且By≥Bz)越尾电场Ey分量的分布特点,对地向传播等离子体团作模拟研究. 两类算例的数值结果展示了通量绳磁结构及具有复杂闭合磁力线位形的等离子体团的基本特征,上述特征与尾向传播的等离子体团类似,与IMP 8卫星关于地向传播南-北中性片事件的观测特征大致相符. 数值结果还展示了与Schindler示意图相类似的磁力线拓扑位形,在一定程度上为南-北事件出现几率低作出了解释;并且揭示了磁尾中性片内越尾磁场分量By对磁重联发展的抑制作用. 本文的模拟研究说明:无论磁尾处于活动时期(IMF Bz为南向),还是宁静时期(IMF Bz为北向且By≥Bz),磁场重联均是磁尾等离子体加速和加热的通用机制.     

磁层顶的涡旋诱发重联和单X线重联

用二维MHD数值模拟研究了地球磁层顶的涡旋重联和单X线重联,并将两者作了比较。涡旋重联和单X线重联各在Alfvèn马赫数M_Λ大于和小于0.5时出现于向阳面磁层顶。前者所产生的磁岛与涡旋同心重叠;后者磁力线重联仅产生X点,而不闭合形成磁岛,涡旋分布于X点两侧。在涡旋重联的自组织过程中,互螺旋度等近似守恒决定其渐近态的拓扑结构。最后,讨论了这两种重联对通量传输事件所起的不同作用。     

磁场重联耗散区内X线附近的强低混杂波的Geotail卫星观测研究

Geotail卫星于2003年5月15日在近地磁尾观测到磁场重联并穿越重联耗散区.卫星从尾向—南尾瓣一侧穿越磁场重联耗散区到地向—北尾瓣一侧的过程中,随着等离子体流反向,霍尔磁场(B_y) 被观测到.本文研究了该磁场重联耗散区内的低混杂波.观测结果显示,在磁场重联耗散区核心及其附近区域观测到在低混杂频率附近存在强烈的等离子体波动的增强,其传播方向主要垂直于背景磁场,该等离子体波动为低混杂波.前人的模拟结果认为,当磁场重联得到充分发展之前,低混杂波将消失.本文的观测结果充分说明,当磁场重联充分发展之后,在核心区域仍然存在增强的低混杂波,说明低混杂波贯穿磁场重联的整个发展过程.这种观测结果与计算机等离子体模拟的结果有所不同.本文的观测对低混杂波在磁场重联中的具体表现提供了新的观测证据并有可能修正前人的理论.     

地球弓激波的旋转非对称性

通过对太阳风-磁层-电离层系统的全球MHD模拟,研究地球弓激波相对日地连线的旋转非对称性．模拟限于太阳风速度沿日地连线、地球磁偶极矩和行星际磁场（IMF）与日地连线垂直的简单情况．模拟结果表明,即便对于IMF强度为零的情况,弓激波相对日地连线也不具备旋转对称性质：终端面（晨昏子午面）及其向阳侧的弓激波截线的东西宽度大于南北宽度（约9%~11％）,终端面尾侧的弓激波截线东西宽度小于南北宽度（约8％）．在存在IMF的情况下,弓激波的位形同时受到磁层顶的形状和快磁声波速度各向异性的影响．磁层顶向外扩张并沿IMF方向拉伸,且其扩张和拉伸程度随IMF由北转南而增强．在磁鞘中,垂直于磁场方向的快磁声波速度高于平行方向．因此,磁层顶拉伸方向与快磁声波速度最大方向垂直,它们对弓激波位置的效应恰好相反;弓激波的最终形状取决于何种效应占据主导地位．对于终端面尾侧,快磁声波速度的各向异性起主导作用,弓激波截线沿IMF垂直方向的宽度大于平行方向．对于终端面及其向阳侧,弓激波截线的形状与IMF取向有关：在准北向或晨昏向IMF情况下,弓激波截线沿IMF垂直方向的宽度仍大于平行方向;在准南向IMF情况下,弓激波截线沿IMF垂直方向的宽度小于平行方向的．鉴于弓激波形状同IMF取向之间的密切关系,我们提议以IMF为基准方向,提取弓激波截线的平行半宽度R_b∥和垂直半宽度R_b⊥作为尺度参数．这些尺度参数和通常引入的弓激波截线的东西半宽度y_b和南北半宽度z_b相比,更为合理地表征了弓激波的几何性质．模拟结果表明,在终端面上,y_b/z_b和R_b∥/R_b⊥在IMF各向同性取向下的统计平均值均低于1,与观测得到的结论一致.     

Reconnection driven lobe convection: Interball tail probe observations and global simulations

We present Interball Tail Probe observations from the high latitude mid-tail magnetopause which provide evidence of reconnection between the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and lobe field lines during a 6 h interval of stable northward and dawnward IMF on October 19, 1995. Results from a global magnetohydrodynamic simulation for this interval compare well with the Interball observations. With the simulations, we provide an extended global view of this event which gives us insight into the reconnection and convection dynamics of the magnetosphere. We find that reconnection occurs in a region of limited spatial extent near the terminator and where the IMF and the lobe field are anti-parallel. Reconnected IMF field lines drape over the dayside magnetosphere, convect along the flanks into the nightside, and enter the magnetotail through a small entry window that is located in the flank opposite to the reconnection site. Ionospheric convection is consistent with previous observations under similar IMF conditions and exhibits a two cell pattern with a dominant lobe cell over the pole. The magnetic mapping between the ionosphere and the lobe boundary is characterized by two singularities: the narrow entry window in the tail maps to a 6 h wide section of the ionospheric lobe cell. A singular mapping line cuts the lobe cell open and maps to almost the entire tail magnetopause. By this singularity the magnetosphere avoids having a stagnation point, i.e., the lobe cell center maps to a tailward convecting field line. The existence of singularities in the magnetic mapping between the ionosphere and the tail has important implications for the study of tail–ionosphere coupling via empirical magnetic field models. Because the lobe–IMF reconnection cuts away old lobe flux and replaces it with flux tubes of magnetosheath origin, solar wind plasma enters the lobes in a process that is similar to the one that operates during southward IMF.     

Specific features of magnetic barrier formation near the magnetopause

The numerical three-dimensional MHD model is used to study the formation of the magnetic barrier in the inner part of the magnetosheath near the magnetopause. The set of the quasistationary solutions for several characteristic directions of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) has been obtained: for northward and southward IMF, for the direction along the Parker helix (at an angle of 45° with respect to the Sun-Earth line), and for the predominantly radial direction (at an angle of 20° with respect to the Sun-Earth line). The mechanism used to take into account the effect of magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause on a flow in the magnetosheath is introduced in the case of southward IMF. The results of the calculations indicate that the magnetic field absolute value in the magnetic barrier reaches its maximal value when IMF is northward. The introduction of magnetic reconnection at southward IMF can result in an insignificant decrease in the field value. However, the model predicts that a decrease in the magnetic field is much more substantial when the IMF direction is close to radial.     

Energy and pitch-angle dispersions of LLBL/cusp ions seen at middle altitudes: predictions by the open magnetosphere model

Numerical simulations are presented of the ion distribution functions seen by middle-altitude spacecraft in the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) and cusp regions when reconnection is, or has recently been, taking place at the equatorial magnetopause. From the evolution of the distribution function with time elapsed since the field line was opened, both the observed energy/observation-time and pitch-angle/energy dispersions are well reproduced. Distribution functions showing a mixture of magnetosheath and magnetospheric ions, often thought to be a signature of the LLBL, are found on newly opened field lines as a natural consequence of the magnetopause effects on the ions and their flight times. In addition, it is shown that the extent of the source region of the magnetosheath ions that are detected by a satellite is a function of the sensitivity of the ion instrument . If the instrument one-count level is high (and/or solar-wind densities are low), the cusp ion precipitation detected comes from a localised region of the mid-latitude magnetopause (around the magnetic cusp), even though the reconnection takes place at the equatorial magnetopause. However, if the instrument sensitivity is high enough, then ions injected from a large segment of the dayside magnetosphere (in the relevant hemisphere) will be detected in the cusp. Ion precipitation classed as LLBL is shown to arise from the low-latitude magnetopause, irrespective of the instrument sensitivity. Adoption of threshold flux definitions has the same effect as instrument sensitivity in artificially restricting the apparent source region.     

An analysis of the accuracy of magnetopause reconnection rate variations deduced from cusp ion dispersion characteristics

We present an analysis of the accuracy of the method introduced by Lockwood et al. (1994) for the determination of the magnetopause reconnection rate from the dispersion of precipitating ions in the ionospheric cusp region. Tests are made by applying the method to synthesised data. The simulated cusp ion precipitation data are produced by an analytic model of the evolution of newly-opened field lines, along which magnetosheath ions are firstly injected across the magnetopause and then dispersed as they propagate into the ionosphere. The rate at which these newly opened field lines are generated by reconnection can be varied. The derived reconnection rate estimates are then compared with the input variation to the model and the accuracy of the method assessed. Results are presented for steady-state reconnection, for continuous reconnection showing a sine-wave variation in rate and for reconnection which only occurs in square wave pulses. It is found that the method always yields the total flux reconnected (per unit length of the open-closed field-line boundary) to within an accuracy of better than 5%, but that pulses tend to be smoothed so that the peak reconnection rate within the pulse is underestimated and the pulse length is overestimated. This smoothing is reduced if the separation between energy channels of the instrument is reduced; however this also acts to increase the experimental uncertainty in the estimates, an effect which can be countered by improving the time resolution of the observations. The limited time resolution of the data is shown to set a minimum reconnection rate below which the method gives spurious short-period oscillations about the true value. Various examples of reconnection rate variations derived from cusp observations are discussed in the light of this analysis.     

Reconfiguration and closure of lobe flux by reconnection during northward IMF: possible evidence for signatures in cusp/cleft auroral emissions

Observations are presented of the response of the dayside cusp/cleft aurora to changes in both the clock and elevation angles of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) vector, as monitored by the WIND spacecraft. The auroral observations are made in 630 nm light at the winter solstice near magnetic noon, using an all-sky camera and a meridian-scanning photometer on the island of Spitsbergen. The dominant change was the response to a northward turning of the IMF which caused a poleward retreat of the dayside aurora. A second, higher-latitude band of aurora was seen to form following the northward turning, which is interpreted as the effect of lobe reconnection which reconfigures open flux. We suggest that this was made possible in the winter hemisphere, despite the effect of the Earth’s dipole tilt, by a relatively large negative X component of the IMF. A series of five events then formed in the poleward band and these propagated in a southwestward direction and faded at the equatorward edge of the lower-latitude band as it migrated poleward. It is shown that the auroral observations are consistent with overdraped lobe flux being generated by lobe reconnection in the winter hemisphere and subsequently being re-closed by lobe reconnection in the summer hemisphere. We propose that the balance between the reconnection rates at these two sites is modulated by the IMF elevation angle, such that when the IMF points more directly northward, the summer lobe reconnection site dominates, re-closing all overdraped lobe flux and eventually becoming disconnected from the Northern Hemisphere.     

Predicted signatures of pulsed reconnection in ESR data

Early in 1996, the latest of the European inco-herent-scatter (EISCAT) radars came into operation on the Svalbard islands. The EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR) has been built in order to study the ionosphere in the northern polar cap and in particular, the dayside cusp. Conditions in the upper atmosphere in the cusp region are complex, with magnetosheath plasma cascading freely into the atmosphere along open magnetic field lines as a result of magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. A model has been developed to predict the effects of pulsed reconnection and the subsequent cusp precipitation in the ionosphere. Using this model we have successfully recreated some of the major features seen in photometer and satellite data within the cusp. In this paper, the work is extended to predict the signatures of pulsed reconnection in ESR data when the radar is pointed along the magnetic field. It is expected that enhancements in both electron concentration and electron temperature will be observed. Whether these enhancements are continuous in time or occur as a series of separate events is shown to depend critically on where the open/closed field-line boundary is with respect to the radar. This is shown to be particularly true when reconnection pulses are superposed on a steady background rate.     

A statistical survey of dayside pulsed ionospheric flows as seen by the CUTLASS Finland HF radar

Nearly two years of 2-min resolution data and 7- to 21-s resolution data from the CUTLASS Finland HF radar have undergone Fourier analysis in order to study statistically the occurrence rates and repetition frequencies of pulsed ionospheric flows in the noon-sector high-latitude ionosphere. Pulsed ionospheric flow bursts are believed to be the ionospheric footprint of newly reconnected geomagnetic field lines, which occur during episodes of magnetic flux transfer to the terrestrial magnetosphere - flux transfer events or FTEs. The distribution of pulsed ionospheric flows were found to be well grouped in the radar field of view, and to be in the vicinity of the radar signature of the cusp footprint. Two thirds of the pulsed ionospheric flow intervals included in the statistical study occurred when the interplanetary magnetic field had a southward component, supporting the hypothesis that pulsed ionospheric flows are a reconnection-related phenomenon. The occurrence rate of the pulsed ionospheric flow fluctuation period was independent of the radar scan mode. The statistical results obtained from the radar data are compared to occurrence rates and repetition frequencies of FTEs derived from spacecraft data near the magnetopause reconnection region, and to ground-based optical measurements of poleward moving auroral forms. The distributions obtained by the various instruments in different regions of the magnetosphere were remarkably similar. The radar, therefore, appears to give an unbiased sample of magnetopause activity in its routine observations of the cusp footprint.