Low frequency electromagnetic fluctuations in the vicinity of a magnetospheric substorm onset were investigated using simultaneous observations by THEMIS multiple probes in the near-Earth plasma sheet in the magnetotail.The observations indicate that in the vicinity of a substorm onset,kinetic Alfvén waves can be excited in the high-βplasma sheet(β=2μ0nT/B 2 ,the ratio of plasma thermal pressure to magnetic pressure)within the near-Earth magnetotail.The kinetic Alfvén wave has a small spatial scale in the high-βplasma.The parallel electric field accompanying kinetic Alfvén waves accelerates the charged particles along the magnetic field.The kinetic Alfvén waves play an important role in the substorm trigger process,and possibly in the formation of a substorm current wedge.
On July 22, 2004, the WIND spacecraft detected a typical interplanetary shock. There was sustaining weak southward magnetic field in the preshock region and the southward field was suddenly enhanced across the shock front (i.e., southward turning). When the shock impinged on the magnetosphere, the magnetospheric plasma convection was abruptly enhanced in the central plasma sheet, which was directly observed by both the TC-1 and Cluster spacecraft located in different regions. Simultaneously, the Cluster spacecraft observed that the dawn-to-dusk electric field was abruptly enhanced. The variations of the magnetic field observed by TC-1, Cluster, GOES-10 and GOES-12 that were distributed in different regions in the plasma sheet and at the geosynchronous orbit are obviously distinct. TC-1 observations showed that the magnetic intensity kept almost unchanged and the elevation angle decreased, but the Cluster spacecraft, which was also in the plasma sheet and was further from the equator, observed that the magnetic field was obviously enhanced. Simultaneously, GOES-12 located near the midnight observed that the magnetic intensity sharply increased and the elevation angle decreased, but GOES-10 located in the dawn side observed that the magnetic field was merely compressed with its three components all sharply increasing. Furthermore, the energetic proton and electron fluxes at nearly all channels observed by five LANL satellites located at different magnetic local times (MLTs) all showed impulsive enhancements due to the compression of the shock. The responses of the energetic particles were much evident on the dayside than those on the nightside. Especially the responses near the midnight were rather weak. In this paper, the possible reasonable physical explanation to above observations is also discussed. All the shock-induced responses are the joint effects of the solar wind dynamic pressure pulse and the magnetic field southward turning.
YAO LiLIU ZhenXingZUO PingBingZHANG LingQianDUAN SuPing
Based on measurements of FGM and HIA on board TC-1 at its apogee on Septem-ber 14, 2004, we analyzed the ion high-speed flows in the near-Earth plasma sheet observed during the substorm expansion phase. Strong tailward high-speed flows (Vx ～ -350 km/s) were first seen at about X ～ -13.2 RE in near-Earth magnetotail, one minute later the flows reversed from tailward to earthward. The reversal process occurred quickly after the substorm expansion onset. The near-Earth magnetotail plasma sheet was one of key regions for substorm onset. Our analysis showed that the ion flow reversal from tailward to earthward was likely to be in close relation with the substorm expansion initiation and might play an important role in trigger-ing the substorm expansion onset.
