Plasma sheet boundary layer. Scientific report 1978-1979
Technical Report
·
OSTI ID:6901558
The plasma-sheet boundary layer is a temporally variable transition region located between the magnetotail lobes and the central plasma sheet. We have made a survey of these regions using particle spectra and three-dimensional velocity-space distributions sampled by the ISEE-1 LEPEDEA. Ion composition measurements obtained by the Lockheed ion mass spectrometers indicate that ionospheric ions play a crucial role in magnetotail dynamics. Eleven crossings from the lobes to the central plasma sheet taken at various local times and levels of geomagnetic activity are analyzed in detail. The average ratios of He(+)/H(+), He(++)/H(+) and 0(+)/H(+) are not significantly different between the plasma-sheet boundary layer and central plasma sheet. Intense antisunward-flowing beams of ionospheric origin at E/q of < 1 kV are often seen in the tail lobes, the plasma-sheet boundary layer and, infrequently, in the central plasma sheet. Such beams are not commonly observed in the central plasma sheet which is characterized by hotter and more isotropic ion and electron distributions. Our samples of ion distributions in the plasma-sheet boundary layer frequently show an evolution of distribution functions from highly anisotropic single beams or counter-streaming beams towards the more isotropic distributions typical of the hot component of the central plasma sheet. Provided that the acceleration process for these beams can be identified, we can then account for the transport and injection of hot plasma into the central plasma sheet. We conclude that the plasma-sheet boundary layer is a primary transport region of the magnetotail.
- Research Organization:
- Iowa Univ., Iowa City (USA). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
- OSTI ID:
- 6901558
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-137399/2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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