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Transient, small-scale field-aligned currents in the plasma sheet boundary layer during storm time substorms

Nakamura, R; Sergeev, VA; Baumjohann, W; Plaschke, F; Magnes, W; Fischer, D; Varsani, A; ... Saito, Y; + view all (2016) Transient, small-scale field-aligned currents in the plasma sheet boundary layer during storm time substorms. Geophysical Research Letters , 43 (10) pp. 4841-4849. 10.1002/2016GL068768. Green open access

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Abstract

We report on field-aligned current observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft near the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) during two major substorms on 23 June 2015. Small-scale field-aligned currents were found embedded in fluctuating PSBL flux tubes near the separatrix region. We resolve, for the first time, short-lived earthward (downward) intense field-aligned current sheets with thicknesses of a few tens of kilometers, which are well below the ion scale, on flux tubes moving equatorward/earthward during outward plasma sheet expansion. They coincide with upward field-aligned electron beams with energies of a few hundred eV. These electrons are most likely due to acceleration associated with a reconnection jet or high-energy ion beam-produced disturbances. The observations highlight coupling of multiscale processes in PSBL as a consequence of magnetotail reconnection.

Type: Article
Title: Transient, small-scale field-aligned currents in the plasma sheet boundary layer during storm time substorms
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/2016GL068768
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068768
Language: English
Additional information: ©2016. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: Field-aligned currents; electron beam; MMS; PSBL
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
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1570516
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