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Pressure balance between lobe and plasma sheet
Author(s) -
Baumjohann Wolfgang,
Paschmann Götz,
Lühr Hermann
Publication year - 1990
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/gl017i001p00045
Subject(s) - plasma sheet , lobe , plasma , atmospheric pressure plasma , northern hemisphere , physics , geophysics , geology , atmospheric sciences , astrophysics , magnetosphere , nuclear physics , medicine , anatomy
Using eight months of AMPTE/IRM plasma and magnetic field data, we have done a statistical survey on the balance of total (thermal and magnetic) pressure in the Earth's plasma sheet and tail lobe. About 300,000 measurements obtained in the plasma sheet and the lobe were compared for different levels of magnetic activity as well as different distances from the Earth. Our data show that lobe and plasma sheet pressure balance very well. Even in the worst case they do not deviate by more than half of the variance in the data itself. Approximately constant total pressure was also seen during a quiet time pass when IRM traversed nearly the whole magnetotail in the vertical direction, from the southern hemisphere lobe through the neutral sheet and into the northern plasma sheet boundary layer.