Bibliography

Storm Time Plasma Pressure Inferred From Multimission Measurements and Its Validation Using Van Allen Probes Particle Data

The k-nearest-neighbor technique is used to mine a multimission magnetometer database for a subset of data points from time intervals that are similar to the storm state of the magnetosphere for a particular moment in time. These subsets of data are then used to fit an empirical magnetic field model. Performing this for each snapshot in time reconstructs the dynamic evolution of the magnetic and electric current density distributions during storms. However, because weaker storms occur more frequently than stronger storms, the reconstructions are biased toward them. We demonstrate that distance weighting the nearest-neighbors mitigates this issue while allowing a sufficient amount of data to be included in the fitting procedure to limit overfitting. Using this technique, we reconstruct the distribution of the magnetic field and electric currents and their evolution for two storms, the intense 17–19 March 2015 “Saint Patrick s Day” storm and a moderate storm occurring on 13–15 July 2013, from which the pressure distributions can be computed assuming isotropy and by integrating the steady-state force-balance equation. As the main phase of a storm progresses in time, the westward ring current density and pressure increases in the inner magnetosphere particularly on the nightside, becoming more symmetric as the recovery phase progresses. We validate the empirical pressure by comparing it to the observed pressures from the Van Allen Probes mission by summing over particle fluxes from all available energy channels and species.

Stephens, G.; Bingham, S.; Sitnov, M.; Gkioulidou, M.; Merkin, V.; Korth, H.; Tsyganenko, N.; Ukhorskiy, A;

Published by: Space Weather      Published on: 10/2020

YEAR: 2020     DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002583

storms; empirical geomagnetic field; ring current; data mining; eastward current; plasma pressure; Van Allen Probes

Multisatellite Analysis of Plasma Pressure in the Inner Magnetosphere During the 1 June 2013 Geomagnetic Storm

Using data from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program 16\textendash18, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 15\textendash19, and METOP 1\textendash2 satellites, we reconstructed for the first time a two-dimensional statistical distribution of plasma pressure in the inner magnetosphere during the 1 June 2013 geomagnetic storm with time resolution of 6 hr. Simultaneously, we used the data from Van Allen Probes and Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions missions to obtain the in situ plasma pressure in the equatorial plane. This allowed us to corroborate that the dipole mapping works reasonably well during the storm time and that variations of plasma pressure are consistent at low and high altitudes; namely, we observed a drastic increase in plasma pressure a few hours before the storm onset that continued during the storm main phase. Plasma pressure remained elevated during the first 18 hr of the recovery phase and then started to decrease to normal levels. We found that the variation in pressure correlates with the change in the slope of the Dst index, and that the plasma pressure nearly conserved its axial symmetry during the storm, giving one more evidence that the ring current provides the main contribution to the Dst variation. We also found that the plasma pressure in the magnetosphere correlates with the solar wind dynamic pressure with a correlation coefficient exceeding 0.9, which can be related to the pressure balance at the magnetospheric flanks. The results obtained here agree with the concept of the ring current generation by an inner magnetosphere plasma ring in magnetostatic equilibrium.

Stepanova, M.; Antonova, E.E.; Moya, P.S.; Pinto, V.A.; Valdivia, J.A.;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on: 01/2019

YEAR: 2019     DOI: 10.1029/2018JA025965

Dynamic pressure; Geomagnetic storm; inner magnetosphere; plasma pressure; Solar wind; Van Allen Probes

The composition of plasma inside geostationary orbit based on Van Allen Probes observations

The composition of the inner magnetosphere is of great importance for determining the plasma pressure, and thus the currents and magnetic field configuration. In this study, we perform a statistical survey of equatorial plasma pressure distributions and investigate the relative contributions of ions and electron with different energies inside of geostationary orbit under two AE levels based on over sixty months of observations from the HOPE and RBSPICE mass spectrometers on board Van Allen Probes. We find that the total and partial pressures of different species increase significantly at high AE levels with Hydrogen (H+) pressure being dominant in the plasmasphere. The pressures of the heavy ions and electrons increase outside the plasmapause and develop a strong dawn-dusk asymmetry with ion pressures peaking at dusk and electron pressure peaking at dawn. In addition, ring current H+ with energies ranging from 50 keV up to several hundred keV is the dominant component of plasma pressure during both quiet (> 90\%) and active times (> 60\%), while Oxygen (O+) with 10 < E < 50 keV and electrons with 0.1 < E < 40 keV become important during active times contributing more than 25\% and 20\% on the nightside, respectively, while the Helium (He+) contribution is generally small. The results presented in this study provide a global picture of the equatorial plasma pressure distributions and the associated contributions from different species with different energy ranges, which advance our knowledge of wave generation and provide models with a systematic baseline of plasma composition.

Yue, Chao; Bortnik, Jacob; Li, Wen; Ma, Qianli; Gkioulidou, Matina; Reeves, Geoffrey; Wang, Chih-Ping; Thorne, Richard; T. Y. Lui, Anthony; Gerrard, Andrew; Spence, Harlan; Mitchell, Donald;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on: 07/2018

YEAR: 2018     DOI: 10.1029/2018JA025344

ion composition; plasma pressure; Plasmapause; Van Allen Probes

Ion Trapping and Acceleration at Dipolarization Fronts: High-Resolution MHD/Test-Particle Simulations

Much of plasma heating and transport from the magnetotail into the inner magnetosphere occurs in the form of mesoscale discrete injections associated with sharp dipolarizations of magnetic field (dipolarization fronts). In this paper we investigate the role of magnetic trapping in acceleration and transport of the plasmasheet ions into the ring current. For this purpose we use high-resolution global MHD and three-dimensional test-particle simulations. It is shown that trapping, produced by sharp magnetic field gradients at the interface between dipolarizations and the ambient plasma, affect plasmasheet protons with energies above approximately 10 keV, enabling their transport across more than 10 Earth radii and acceleration by a factor of 10. Our estimates show that trapping is important to the buildup of the ring current plasma pressure of injected particles; depending on the plasmasheet temperature and energy spectrum, trapped protons can contribute between 20\% to 60\% of the plasma pressure. It is also shown that the acceleration process does not conserve the particle first invariant; on average protons are accelerated to higher energies compared to a purely adiabatic process. We also investigate how trapping and energization varies for deferent ions species and show that, in accordance with recent observations, ion acceleration is proportional to the ion charge and is independent of its mass.

Ukhorskiy, A; Sorathia, K.; Merkin, V.; Sitnov, M.; Mitchell, D.; Gkioulidou, M.;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on: 06/2018

YEAR: 2018     DOI: 10.1029/2018JA025370

injections; plasma pressure; ring current; trapping; Van Allen Probes