Open AccessX line distribution determined from earthward and tailward convective bursty flows in the central plasma sheet
Author(s) -
Zhang L. Q.,
Liu Z. X.,
Ma Z. W.,
Baumjohann W.,
Pu Z. Y.,
Dunlop M. W.,
Reme H.,
Wang J. Y.
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1029/2009ja014429
Subject(s) - plasma sheet , physics , line (geometry) , solar wind , cluster (spacecraft) , convection , plasma , satellite , geophysics , computational physics , astrophysics , magnetosphere , meteorology , geometry , astronomy , mathematics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
With TC‐1, Cluster, and Geotail observations, we statistically analyzed earthward and tailward convective bursty flows (CBFs) from 7 to 31 R E to understand the distribution of X lines in the magnetotail. We also analyzed the effect of the solar wind condition on the X lines with ACE satellite observations. The statistical results show that the earthward CBFs can be distributed widely, from 7 to 31 R E . TC‐1 exploration shows that tailward CBFs with negative B z in the central plasma sheet can seldom be observed inside 13 R E . Tailward CBFs with negative B z are mainly distributed outside 17 R E , thus indicating that near‐Earth X lines are most likely to occur outside 17 R E . According to Cluster observations, the occurrence of tailward CBFs has a sudden increase from 17 to 19 R E . Geotail observations show a slow increase of tailward CBFs outside 20 R E . Both Cluster and Geotail observations indicate that the near‐Earth X lines could occur inside 20 R E . The solar wind condition has a significant effect on the occurrence of the X line in the magnetotail. The occurrence of the X line can increase under strong solar wind and decrease under weak solar wind.