| Title: |
Transient, small-scale field-aligned currents in the plasma sheet boundary layer during storm time substorms |
| Authors: |
Nakamura, R; Sergeev, VA; Baumjohann, W; Plaschke, F; Magnes, W; Fischer, D; Varsani, A; Schmid, D; Nakamura, TKM; Russell, CT; Strangeway, RJ; Leinweber, HK; Le, G; Bromund, KR; Pollock, CJ; Giles, BL; Dorelli, JC; Gershman, DJ; Paterson, W; Avanov, LA; Fuselier, SA; Genestreti, K; Burch, JL; Torbert, RB; Chutter, M; Argall, MR; Anderson, BJ; Lindqvist, P-A; Marklund, GT; Khotyaintsev, YV; Mauk, BH; Cohen, IJ; Baker, DN; Jaynes, AN; Ergun, RE; Singer, HJ; Slavin, JA; Kepko, EL; Moore, TE; Lavraud, B; Coffey, V; Saito, Y |
| Source: |
Geophysical Research Letters , 43 (10) pp. 4841-4849. (2016) |
| Publication Year: |
2016 |
| Collection: |
University College London: UCL Discovery |
| Subject Terms: |
Field-aligned currents; electron beam; MMS; PSBL |
| Description: |
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. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
text |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1570516/ |
| Availability: |
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1570516/1/Nakamura_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf; https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1570516/ |
| Rights: |
open |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.187ACE52 |
| Database: |
BASE |