Open AccessSpatial relations of mantle and plasma sheet
Author(s) -
Siscoe George,
Kaymaz Zerefsan
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/1999ja900113
Subject(s) - plasma sheet , magnetosheath , magnetosphere , physics , geophysics , interplanetary magnetic field , plasma , latitude , substorm , polar , magnetopause , astrophysics , geology , solar wind , astronomy , nuclear physics
This paper presents the first purely data‐based cross‐sectional maps of the magnetotail and surrounding magnetosheath showing the relative locations of the magnetosheath, the lobes, the mantles, and the plasma sheet. The maps are based on newly digitized speed, density, and temperature data from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) plasma instrument on IMP 8. They cover the 2‐year interval for which ISEE 3 and LANL plasma data overlap. They refer to the usual interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) | B y | > IMF | B z | situation and are given in the standard IMF B y > 0 format. They reveal that the plasma sheet and the mantels overlap on the north‐dawn and south‐dusk flanks. Magnetically, these overlap regions have open‐like properties. The maps suggest that the plasma sheet extends to polar latitudes along the south‐dawn and north‐dusk magnetotail flanks for IMF B y > 0. These segments also contain the flank expressions of the cross‐tail S and the x‐type nulls associated with the magnetosphere's magnetic separator line, both found in prior studies.