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Experimental Study of the Plasmasphere Boundary Layer Using MAGION 5 Data
Author(s) -
Kotova G.,
Verigin M.,
Lemaire J.,
Pierrard V.,
Bezrukikh V.,
Smilauer J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2017ja024590
Subject(s) - plasmasphere , plasma , physics , flux (metallurgy) , flux tube , atomic physics , boundary layer , maximum density , computational physics , magnetic flux , chemistry , mechanics , magnetic field , magnetosphere , thermodynamics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , organic chemistry
The in situ cold plasma measurements onboard MAGION 5 were carried out with very good time resolution, and this permitted to analyze thin plasmasphere boundary layer (PBL) near the plasmapause. In this layer the plasma density N is decreasing exponentially with L : N ~exp(( L PP − L )/ W B ), where W B corresponds to the characteristic width of the PBL, the distance in L within which the density varies by a factor of e , and L PP is the position of the plasmapause. The density in the boundary layer is inversely proportional to the volume of the unit magnetic flux tube, whereas its width is proportional to the volume of magnetic flux tube. The characteristic width of the PBL linearly depends on the time elapsed since the most recent maximum value of K P . Empirical relation for the dependence of the PBL width on most recent maximum value of K P and on the lapse time between this maximum and the plasmapause observations is proposed.