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IMF‐driven overshielding electric field and the origin of the plasmaspheric shoulder of May 24, 2000
Author(s) -
Goldstein J.,
Spiro R. W.,
Reiff P. H.,
Wolf R. A.,
Sandel B. R.,
Freeman J. W.,
Lambour R. L.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl014534
Subject(s) - plasmasphere , electric field , geophysics , physics , bulge , extreme ultraviolet lithography , extreme ultraviolet , plasma , astrophysics , geology , magnetosphere , optics , laser , stars , quantum mechanics
Between the hours of 6–10 UT on May 24, 2000, the IMAGE extreme ultraviolet (EUV) instrument observed a shoulder‐shaped bulge in the morning sector plasmapause [ Burch et al. , 2001a, 2001b]. Simulation results of the data‐driven Magnetospheric Specification Model (MSM) have reproduced the formation (during 4:00–5:15 UT) and subsequent evolution of the shoulder. In the model, the shoulder is created by a dusk‐to‐dawn overshielding electric field, triggered by two sudden, strong northward (N wd ) turnings of the IMF. Overshielding causes antisunward flow of pre‐dawn plasma, producing an asymmetric bulge that rotates eastward.