高密度极尖区的形成原因

极尖区是太阳风进入磁层的一个重要窗口,极尖区密度是反映这一物理过程的重要参量,通常情况下极尖区密度约为1~10 cm^-3,但有时卫星会观测到密度大于40 cm^-3的极尖区,本文称之为高密度极尖区.我们分析了Cluster卫星2001—2009年的观测数据,在470个极尖区穿越中找到28个高密度极尖区穿越事件并进行了统计研究,分析了高密度极尖区事件的形成原因,进而讨论了太阳风高效地进入极尖区的外部条件.结果表明：距正午的距离（｜MLT-12｜）较小,太阳风的密度高,低纬有磁层顶磁重联发生以及正偶极倾角都是观测到高密度极尖区事件的有利条件,并且当同时满足上述4个条件时,高密度极尖区事件发生率为100%;而低纬磁层顶磁重联以及大的正偶极倾角被认为是太阳风高效地进入极尖区的重要条件.这些研究结果有助于我们更进一步地理解太阳风进入极尖区的物理机制.     

高密度极尖区的形成原因

极尖区是太阳风进入磁层的一个重要窗口,极尖区密度是反映这一物理过程的重要参量,通常情况下极尖区密度约为1～10 cm~(-3),但有时卫星会观测到密度大于40 cm~(-3)的极尖区,本文称之为高密度极尖区.我们分析了Cluster卫星2001—2009年的观测数据,在470个极尖区穿越中找到28个高密度极尖区穿越事件并进行了统计研究,分析了高密度极尖区事件的形成原因,进而讨论了太阳风高效地进入极尖区的外部条件.结果表明:距正午的距离(|MLT-12|)较小,太阳风的密度高,低纬有磁层顶磁重联发生以及正偶极倾角都是观测到高密度极尖区事件的有利条件,并且当同时满足上述4个条件时,高密度极尖区事件发生率为100%;而低纬磁层顶磁重联以及大的正偶极倾角被认为是太阳风高效地进入极尖区的重要条件.这些研究结果有助于我们更进一步地理解太阳风进入极尖区的物理机制.     

地球磁层对磁云边界层的大尺度响应分析——个例研究

主要分析了WIND飞船2004年11月9日探测的磁云边界层引起的大尺度地球磁层活动．磁层响应主要包括以下3个方面：（1）磁云边界层内本身持续较强南向磁场驱动了一个强磁暴的主相．（2）由于磁云边界层内部较强南向磁场持续一段时间后发生向北偏转触发了一个典型磁层亚暴．文中详细分析了亚暴膨胀相发生时夜侧磁层各区域的观测现象,包括极光观测、高纬地磁湾扰、地球同步轨道无色散粒子注入现荆、Pi2脉动突然增强以及等离子体片偶极化现象等．（3）磁云边界层和前面鞘区组成一个动压增强区,此动压增强区强烈压缩磁层,致使磁层顶进入地球同步轨道以内;当磁云边界层扫过磁层时,位于向阳侧地球同步轨道上的两颗GOES卫星大部分时间位于磁层磁鞘中,以致很长时间内直接暴露在太阳风中．利用Shue（1998）模型计算得到当磁云边界层扫过磁层时磁层顶日下点的位置被压缩至距地心最近距离为5．1RE,磁云边界层的强动压结构以及强间断面决定了磁云边界层对磁层的强压缩效应．强动压结构、多个强间断结构以及持续较长时间的强南向磁场是许多磁云边界层的共性,这里以此磁云边界层事件为例分析了磁云边界层的地球磁层响应．     

基于NOAA/POES卫星观测的磁层相对论电子起源的初探

本文利用低高度极轨卫星NOAA/POES的观测数据，并结合ACE卫星和Polar卫星的观测结果，研究分析了磁层相对论电子的起源. NOAA/POES卫星对于不同地磁活动时期相对论电子的分布和起源进行了较为详细观测, 分析结果表明（1） 亚暴期间注入磁层的能量电子可以为与磁暴相关的磁层高能电子暴提供种子电子；（2）太阳质子事件期间太阳风中的能量电子也可以为磁层中的相对论电子提供所需要的源.     

电离层电导对地球磁层顶和舷激波尺度的影响

本文在如下假定下分析电离层电导对地球磁层顶和舷激波尺度的影响：（1）对电离层采用球壳近似,Pedersen电导Σ_P均匀,Hall电导为零;（2）地磁偶极矩处于正南方向,行星际磁场（IMF）只有南向分量（B_z<0）.磁层顶和舷激波的尺度分别由它们与GSE坐标系三个轴的交点,即日下点、晨昏侧翼点和南北顶点的地心距离表征.对给定的太阳风条件、B_z和Σ_P,通过三维全球MHD模拟获得系统的准定态.结果表明,在大约1～5 S范围内,Σ_P值显著影响磁层顶和舷激波的尺度,而在该范围之外则几乎没有影响.随着Σ_P的增加,磁层顶和舷激波整体向外扩张,前者的扩张程度低于后者,以至磁鞘区的范围扩大.磁层顶的侧翼点的位置随Σ_P的变化与B_z的幅度有关：在弱南向IMF情况下磁层顶的侧翼点随Σ_P的增加向内移动,而在强南向IMF情况下则向外移动.上述结果表明,在构建磁层顶和舷激波的经验模型时,有必要计入电离层电导的影响.     

地顶的地心距离及其变化

本文介绍了有关磁层中电离层离子起主要作用区域（地顶内区）的观测资料和磁层中电离层离子随地磁活动和太阳活动变化的观测资料,根据这些资料简单分析了上行离子的密度和通量密度及地顶的变化。     

地球磁层对磁云边界层的大尺度响应分析——个例研究

主要分析了WIND飞船2004年11月9日探测的磁云边界层引起的大尺度地球磁层活动.磁层响应主要包括以下3个方面:(1)磁云边界层内本身持续较强南向磁场驱动了一个强磁暴的主相.(2)由于磁云边界层内部较强南向磁场持续一段时间后发生向北偏转触发了一个典型磁层亚暴.文中详细分析了亚暴膨胀相发生时夜侧磁层各区域的观测现象,包括极光观测、高纬地磁湾扰、地球同步轨道无色散粒子注入现象、Pi2脉动突然增强以及等离子体片偶极化现象等.(3)磁云边界层和前面鞘区组成一个动压增强区,此动压增强区强烈压缩磁层,致使磁层顶进入地球同步轨道以内;当磁云边界层扫过磁层时,位于向阳侧地球同步轨道上的两颗GOES卫星大部分时间位于磁层磁鞘中,以致很长时间内直接暴露在太阳风中.利用Shue(1998)模型计算得到当磁云边界层扫过磁层时磁层顶日下点的位置被压缩至距地心最近距离为5.1RE,磁云边界层的强动压结构以及强间断面决定了磁云边界层对磁层的强压缩效应.强动压结构、多个强间断结构以及持续较长时间的强南向磁场是许多磁云边界层的共性,这里以此磁云边界层事件为例分析了磁云边界层的地球磁层响应.     

2001年1月26日高纬磁层顶通量管事件的观测研究

2001年1月26日11:10～11:40UT, ClusterⅡ卫星簇位于午后高纬磁鞘边界层和磁鞘区,此 时行星际磁场Bz为南向. 本文对在此期间观测到的多次磁通量管事件作了详细的研究 ,获得一系列的新发现：（1）高纬磁鞘边界层磁通量管的出现具有准周期性,周期约为78s ,比目前已知的磁层顶向阳面FTE的平均周期（8～11min）小得多. （2）这些通量管都具有 强的核心磁场;其主轴多数在磁场最小变化方向,少数在中间变化方向,有些无法用PAA判 定其方向（需要用电流管PAA确定）,这与卫星穿越通量管的相对路径有关. （3）每个事件 都存在很好的HT参考系,在HT参考系中这些通量管是准定常态结构;所有通量管都沿磁层顶 表面运动,速度方向大体相同,都来自晨侧下方. 通量管的径向尺度为1～2RE, 与通 常的FTE通量管相当. （4）起源于磁层的强能离子大体上沿着管轴方向由磁层向磁鞘运动; 起源于太阳风的热等离子体沿管轴向磁层传输. 通量管为太阳风等离子体向磁层输运和磁层 粒子向行星际空间逃逸提供了通道. （5）每个通量管事件都伴随有晨昏电场的反转,该电 场为对流电场.     

磁层顶压缩事件的磁场分析

向日面磁层顶在平静太阳风条件下,处于10RE（RE为地球半径）左右．但在异常的太阳风条件下,即南向行星际磁场很强和（或）太阳风的动压很大时,会被压缩,甚至到达同步轨道附近．集中分析2001年4月11日的磁暴事件,研究当磁层顶发生强烈压缩以后。在地球空间和地面上产生的磁场影响．磁层顶位形选取Shue（1998）模型计算．当把计算结果与GOESl0卫星的观测数据对比时发现：磁层顶在强的太阳风条件下的确会被压缩到同步轨道以内．Shue（1998）模型的预测基本正确,通常的漏报可能是由于预报的位置误差所致．实际磁层顶电流片的位置和强度与我们假设的理想磁层顶间断面计算结果基本吻合．在分析大磁暴过程时,磁层顶压缩使磁层顶电流对于中低纬度地磁场扰动有突出的贡献,在2001年4月事件中,这个贡献可以大于50nT,占主相的1／6左右．这一贡献可以使Dst指数产生相应的误差．     

基于VAP卫星的等离子体层顶电子密度波动统计分析

基于范艾伦辐射带探测卫星的观测数据(2012年9月至2015年11月),收集了584个等离子体层顶密度波动事件,研究了这些事件分布随磁地方时、磁壳值以及地磁活动的变化关系,并使用快速傅里叶变换分析了全部事件平均功率谱.统计结果表明,等离子体层顶密度波动事件主要发生在磁地方时黄昏扇区,其分布与磁地方时和地磁活动具有明显的相关性.等离子体层顶密度波动在1～100mHz区间内具有接近-5/3的功率谱斜率,表明存在二维磁流体动力学湍流.本文统计结果将有助于进一步深入理解等离子体层顶密度波动在内磁层中能量传输的具体作用,并且将促进对等离子体层顶波动的激发、增强与传播过程的进一步研究.     

Dipole tilt controls bow shock location and flaring angle

The dipole tilt angle has been found to affect Earth’s bow shock. This work presents a quantitative relationship between the dipole tilt angle and the bow shock location and flaring angle. We collected a large data set of bow shock crossings from four different satellites (IMP 8, Geotail, Magion 4, and Cluster), including some recent crossings obtained during 2012–2013. The results from a statistical analysis demonstrate that: (1) the subsolar standoff distance increases but the flaring angle decreases with increasing dipole tilt angle; (2) when the dipole tilt angle changes sign from negative to positive, the dayside bow shock moves toward Earth and the shift can be as much as 2.29 R _E, during which the flaring angle increases; and (3) the shape of bow shock in the northern and southern hemispheres differs. For the northern hemisphere bow shock, with increasing positive/negative dipole tilt angle, the flaring angle increases/decreases. While for the southern hemisphere, the trend is the opposite; with increasing positive/negative dipole tilt angle, the flaring angle decreases/increases. These results are helpful for future bow shock modeling that needs to include the effects of dipole tilt angle.     

Dynamics and local boundary properties of the dawn-side magnetopause under conditions observed by Equator-S

Magnetic field measurements, taken by the magnetometer experiment (MAM) on board the German Equator-S spacecraft, have been used to identify and categorise 131 crossings of the dawn-side magnetopause at low latitude, providing unusual, long duration coverage of the adjacent magnetospheric regions and near magnetosheath. The crossings occurred on 31 orbits, providing unbiased coverage over the full range of local magnetic shear from 06:00 to 10:40 LT. Apogee extent places the spacecraft in conditions associated with intermediate, rather than low, solar wind dynamic pressure, as it processes into the flank region. The apogee of the spacecraft remains close to the magnetopause for mean solar wind pressure. The occurrence of the magnetopause encounters are summarised and are found to compare well with predicted boundary location, where solar wind conditions are known. Most scale with solar wind pressure. Magnetopause shape is also documented and we find that the magnetopause orientation is consistently sunward of a model boundary and is not accounted for by IMF or local magnetic shear conditions. A number of well-established crossings, particularly those at high magnetic shear, or exhibiting unusually high-pressure states, were observed and have been analysed for their boundary characteristics and some details of their boundary and near magnetosheath properties are discussed. Of particular note are the occurrence of mirror-like signatures in the adjacent magnetosheath during a significant fraction of the encounters and a high number of multiple crossings over a long time period. The latter is facilitated by the spacecraft orbit which is designed to remain in the near magnetosheath for average solar wind pressure. For most encounters, a well-ordered, tangential (draped) magnetosheath field is observed and there is little evidence of large deviations in local boundary orientations. Two passes corresponding to close conjunctions of the Geotail spacecraft are analysed to confirm boundary orientation and motion. These further show evidence of an anti-sunward moving depression on the magnetopause (which is much smaller at Equator-S). The Tsyganenko model field is used routinely to assist in categorising the crossings and some comparison of models is carried out. We note that typically the T87 model fits the data better than the T89 model during conditions of low to intermediate K_p index near the magnetopause and also near the dawn-side tail current sheet in the dawnside region.     

The normal directions and shape of the magnetopause

The minimum variance and tangential discontinuity analyses are used to find the normal directions of the magnetopause using 550 crossings from ISEE 1 and 2, AMPTE/IRM, and IMP 8 satellites. Then, the average shape of the magnetopause is studied by using two-region fit procedure. These studies show: (i) most of the crossings are reasonably characterized as tangential discontinuity; (ii) there does appear to be east-west and north-south asymmetry in the shape of the magnetopause; (iii) the magnetopause in the equatorial region is swept back from the vacuum location for both northward and southward IMF, which means that the simple single conic section used in previous fits may not be appropriate to the entire shape of the magnetopause, especially at the nightside. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49374222).     

太阳风压力系数的研究

利用全球磁流体力学(MHD)的模拟结果,研究了太阳风压力系数与上游太阳风参数和日下点磁层顶张角的相关性.在识别出日下点附近磁层顶位置后,通过拟合得到日下点附近的磁层顶张角.在考虑上游太阳风中的磁压和热压以及磁层顶外侧的太阳风动压的情况下,计算了太阳风压力系数.通过分析行星际磁场不同方向时太阳风动压在日地连线上与磁压和热压的转化关系,详细研究了太阳风参数和日下点磁层顶张角对太阳风压力系数的影响,得到以下相关结论:(1) 在北向行星际磁场较大(B_z≥5 nT)时,磁层顶外侧磁压占主导,南向行星际磁场时磁层顶外侧热压占主导;(2) 太阳风压力系数随着行星际磁场的增大而增大,随着行星际磁场时钟角的增大而减小;并且在行星际磁场大小和其他太阳风条件相同时,北向行星际磁场时的太阳风压力系数要大于南向行星际磁场时的;北向行星际磁场时,太阳风压力系数随着太阳风动压的增大而减小,南向行星际磁场时,太阳风压力系数随着太阳风动压的增大而增大;以上结论是对观测结果的扩展;(3) 最后,我们还发现太阳风压力系数随着日下点磁层顶张角的增大而增大.     

Effects of the interplanetary magnetic field clock angle on the shape of bow shock

Using the global magnetohydrodynamics(MHD) simulation model, we investigated the effects of the interplanetary magnetic field(IMF) clock angle on the shape of bow shock, including its rotational asymmetry and subsolar point. For general northward IMF( z component Bz 0), the rotational symmetry of the bow shock is broken by the effects of fast magnetosonic Mach number(Mms), and the cross-sectional line of the bow shock is an ellipse with the semi-major axis along the direction perpendicular to the IMF. The ratio or D-value between semi-major and semi-minor axis can be used to illustrate the extent of asymmetry of the bow shock. On the basis of the multiple parameters fitting, we obtain the changing relationship of both semi-axes with the clock angle and the distance away from the Earth. For general southward IMF(Bz 0), the cross sectional line of the bow shock is highly asymmetrical under the multiple effects of magnetopause and Mms. The effects of IMF clock angle on subsolar point depend mainly on the changing subsolar point of magnetopause as an obstacle. The distance of subsolar point of bow shock from the Earth increases with the increasing IMF clock angle for Bz 0, and decreases with the increasing IMF clock angle for Bz 0.     

Model magnetosphere of Mercury

The paper presents a three-dimensional quantitative model of Mercury's magnetosphere based on the entire combined set of observational data obtained from the first and third encounters of Mariner 10 with Mercury. The model assumes that the surface magnetic field of the planet Mercury consists of a dipole, a quadrupole and an octupole. The dipole moment of Mercury is 2.4 × 10²² G cm³, tilted 2.3° from the normal to the planetary orbital plane and having the same directional sense as that of the Earth. The intensity of the quadrupole moment is approximately 45% of the dipole, and that of the octupole moment 29% of the dipole. The model meets four critical tests: (1) it produces the smallest residuals among all existing models, (2) it can reproduce the crossing of a tail current sheet by Mariner 10, (3) all planetary field lines are confined inside the model magnetosphere, and (4) the size of the model magnetosphere agrees well with the magnetopause crossings directly observed from Mariner 10. The model can also be used to explain two observational features: (1) the plasma characteristics observed in different regions of the magnetosphere, and (2) the regions of quiet and disturbed signatures directly observed from Mariner 10.     

Geomagnetic Field Disturbances Caused by Heliospheric Current Sheet Crossings

The heliospheric current sheet (HCS) is modified by the solar activity. HCS is highly inclined during solar maximum and almost confined with the solar equatorial plane during solar minimum. Close to the HCS solar wind parameters as proton temperature, flow speed, proton density, etc. differ compared to the region far from the HCS. The Earth’s magnetic dipole field crosses HCS several times each month. Considering interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICME) and high speed solar wind streams (HSS) free periods an investigation of the HCS influence on the geomagnetic field disturbances is presented. The results show a drop of the Dst index and a rise of the AE index at the time of the HCS crossings and also that the behavior of these indices does not depend on the magnetic polarity.     

A satellite study of dayside auroral conjugacy

A study of dayside auroral conjugacy has been done using the cleft/boundary layer auroral particle boundaries observed by the DMSP-F7 satellite in the southern hemisphere and the global UV auroral images taken by the Viking spacecraft in the northern hemisphere. The 22 events have been studied on the basis of an internal IGRF 1985 magnetic field; it is shown that there is a displacement of up to 4^° in latitude from the conjugate points with the northern aurora appearing to be located poleward of the conjugate point. No local time dependence of the north-south auroral location difference was seen. The use of a more realistic magnetic field model for tracing field lines which incorporates the dipole tilt angle and Kp index, the Tsyganenko 1987 long model plus the IGRF 1985 internal magnetic field model, appears to organize the data better. Although with this external plus internal model some tracings did not close in the opposite hemisphere, 70% of those that did indicated satisfactory conjugacy. The study shows that the degree of auroral conjugacy is dependent upon the accuracy of the magnetic field model used to trace to the conjugate point, especially in the dayside region where the field lines can either go to the dayside magnetopause near the subsolar point or sweep all the way back to the flanks of the magnetotail. Also the discrepancy in the latitude of northern and southern aurora can be partially explained by the displacement of the neutral sheet (source region of the aurora) by the dipole tilt effect.