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Dual spacecraft observations of lobe magnetic field perturbations before, during and after plasmoid release

Slavin, JA; Hesse, M; Owen, CJ; Taguchi, S; Fairfield, DH; Lepping, RP; Kokuban, S; ... Sutcliffe, PR; + view all (1999) Dual spacecraft observations of lobe magnetic field perturbations before, during and after plasmoid release. Geophysical Research Letters , 26 (19) 2897 - 2900. 10.1029/1999GL003606. Green open access

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Abstract

This study examines a data set returned by IMP 8 and Geotail on January 29, 1995 during a substorm which resulted in the ejection of a plasmoid. The two spacecraft (s/c) were situated in the north lobe of the tail and both observed a traveling compression region (TCR). We show that in this instance dual s/c measurements can be used to model all three dimensions of the underlying plasmoid and to estimate its rate of expansion. For this event plasmoid dimensions of ΔX ∼18, ΔY ∼30, and ΔZ ∼10 Re are determined from the IMP 8 and Geotail observations. Furthermore, a factor of ∼2 increase in the amplitude of the TCR occurred in the 1.5 min it took to move from IMP 8 to Geotail. Modeled using conservation of magnetic flux, this increase in lobe compression implies that the underlying plasmoid was expanding at a rate of ∼140 km/s. Finally, a reconfiguration of the lobe magnetic field followed plasmoid ejection which moved magnetic flux tubes into the wake behind the plasmoid where they would become available to feed the reconnection region.

Type: Article
Title: Dual spacecraft observations of lobe magnetic field perturbations before, during and after plasmoid release
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1029/1999GL003606
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/1999GL003606
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union
Keywords: Traveling compression regions, Geotail observations, Isee-3, Magnetotail, Evolution
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/153234
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