Variation of the plasma turbulence in the central plasma sheet during substorm phases observed by the interball/tail satellite

Fluctuations of the plasma bulk velocity across the plasma sheet are studied using single-point measurements from the Corall instrument on board the Interball/Tail satellite. Several hour-long intervals of continuous data corresponding to quiet geomagnetic conditions and different phases of isolated substorms are analyzed. The plasma sheet flow appears to be strongly turbulent, i.e. dominated by fluctuations that are unpredictable. Corresponding eddy diffusion coefficients were obtained as a function of the autocorrelation time and rms velocity of the fluctuations. It was found that the amplitude of the turbulence and the values of eddy-diffusion coefficients increase significantly during substorm growth and expansion phases and they decrease to their initial level during the recovery phase. We also studied a relationship between the eddy-diffusion coefficients and the absolute value of the geomagnetic field, also measured by the Interball/Tail satellite. It was found that this relationship varies depending on the phase of substorm, indicating possible change in the turbulence regimen with substorm phase.     

Curie-point depth from spectral analysis of magnetic data in central-southern Europe

The basal depth of the outer layer with internal magnetic sources was calculated from magnetic data available within a roughly 500 km wide and 1200 km long area, running from central Germany to southern Italy. The dataset, deriving from different aeromagnetic surveys, is reduced to the reference altitude of 3000 m a.s.l. and a reference year of 1980.0. The adopted method, which transforms the spatial data into the frequency domain, provides a relationship between the two-dimensional spectrum of the magnetic anomalies and the top and centroid depths of the magnetic sources. The magnetic layer bottom depth (MLBD) thus obtained is 29-33 km deep in the stable areas (central Europe Variscan units, Corsica-Sardinia Variscan block) and corresponds to the Moho, having an average temperature of 560 °C. From the Alps to the Apennines, MLBD ranges between 22 and 28 km and is clearly shallower than the Moho. In these units, the wide variation of MLBD appears to be compatible with the presence of shallow magnetised bodies, consisting of lower crustal rocks (Ivrea-Verbano zone), ophiolitic units (Penninic zone and Voltri Massif) and intrasedimentary basic volcanic bodies (Po Basin). An average value of 25 km can be attributed to MLBD, which corresponds to a temperature of 550 °C. In the peri-Tyrrhenian zone and the Ligurian Sea, MLBD is below the Moho, which ranges from 17 to 20 km depth, and it has a temperature matching approximately to the Curie temperature of magnetite (580 °C).     

Magnetosheath Interaction with the High Latitude Magnetopause

We present both statistical and case studies of magnetosheath interaction with the high-latitude magnetopause on the basis of Interball-1 and other ISTP spacecraft data. We discuss those data along with recently published results on the topology of cusp-magnetosheath transition and the roles of nonlinear disturbances in mass and energy transfer across the high-latitude magnetopause. For sunward dipole tilts, a cusp throat is magnetically open for direct interaction with the incident flow that results in the creation of a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) over an indented magnetopause and downstream of the cusp. For antisunward tilts, the cusp throat is closed by a smooth magnetopause; demagnetized ‘plasma balls’ (with scale ∼ few R_E, an occurrence rate of ∼25% and trapped energetic particles) present a major magnetosheath plasma channel just inside the cusp. The flow interacts with the ‘plasma balls’ via reflected waves, which trigger a chaotization of up to 40% of the upstream kinetic energy. These waves propagate upstream of the TBL and initiate amplification of the existing magnetosheath waves and their cascade-like decays during downstream passage throughout the TBL. The most striking feature of the nonlinear interaction is the appearance of magnetosonic jets, accelerated up to an Alfvenic Mach number of 3. The characteristic impulsive local momentum loss is followed by decelerated Alfvenic flows and modulated by the TBL waves; momentum balance is conserved only on time scales of the Alfvenic flows (1/f_A ∼12 min). Wave trains at f_A∼1.3 mHz are capable of synchronizing interactions throughout the outer and inner boundary layers. The sonic/Alfvenic flows, bounded by current sheets, control the TBL spectral shape and result in non-Gaussian statistical characteristics of the disturbances, indicating the fluctuation intermittency. We suggest that the multi-scale TBL processes play at least a comparable role to that of macro-reconnection (remote from or in the cusp) in solar wind energy transformation and population of the magnetosphere by the magnetosheath plasma. Secondary micro-reconnection constitutes a necessary chain at the small-scale (∼ion gyroradius) edge of the TBL cascades. The thick TBL transforms the flow energy, including deceleration and heating of the flow in the open throat, ‘plasma ball’ and the region downstream of the cusp.     

Energetic Particles Observed in the CUSP Region During a Storm Recovery Phase

In this paper we report energetic ion behavior and its composition variations observed by the Cluster/RAPID instrument when the spacecraft was travelling in the high latitude magnetospheric boundary region on the day of the 31 March, 2001, strongest magnetic storm in the past 50 years. The Dst index reached −360 nT at about 09:00 UT. During its early recovery phase, large amounts of oxygen and helium ions were observed; the ratio of oxygen to hydrogen in the RAPID energy range reached as high as 250%, which suggests that the observed energetic particles might be of magnetospheric origin. The observations further show that enhanced energetic electron fluxes are confined in a very narrow region, while protons have occupied a larger region, and heavy ions have been observed in an even larger region. The flux of energetic electrons show a slight enhancement in a region where the magnetic field magnitude is around zero. These observed energetic ions could be quasi-trapped by the current sheet in the stagnation region of the cusp.