A Science Strategy for Space Physics (1995) / Chapter Skim
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A Science Strategy for Space Physics: Chapter 3
A Science Strategy for Space Physics: Chapter 3
Pages 55-65
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From page 55... ...
The streaming solar wind compresses the magnetosphere on the dayside and stretches it out on the nightside in a long anti-sunward tail structure. The interaction between the solar wind, the magnetosphere, and the atmosphere produces a number of plasma and magnetic field structures, including the magnetopause, magnetosheath, boundary layers, cusp region, plasmasphere, ring current, plasma sheet, magnetotail, and magnetotail REPORT MENU lobes.
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From page 56... ...
(Courtesy of Donald Mitchell, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University.) The magnificent images of vast astrophysical plasma systems, a familiar example being the Crab nebula, clearly laced with magnetic fields, hot gasses, and highly energized charged particles, have captured the interest of both the public and scientists.
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From page 57... ...
A magnetic storm is a period of enhanced geomagnetic activity, typically lasting many hours to days. During this period, particles are injected into the outer Van Allen belts to form an intense magnetospheric ring current that depresses the geomagnetic field at low latitudes.
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From page 58... ...
Another MI coupling effect comes from the flow of a large number of ionospheric ions up along the magnetic field lines into the magnetosphere. These ions become energized by processes as yet unidentified and could play important roles in MI coupling and magnetic storm and substorm dynamics.
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From page 59... ...
Do local processes affect the global structure of the magnetosphere? What are the physical links between the component parts of the magnetosphere, shown in Figure 8, such as the auroral electron precipitation regions, auroral upflowing ion regions, the plasmasphere, the ring current, boundary layers, and plasma sheet regions?
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From page 60... ...
What are the global distributions of electric fields, current systems, and charged particles in the MI coupling region? How are magnetospheric and ionospheric electric fields and currents set up and how do they evolve over time?
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From page 61... ...
The Polar mission has the capability to continuously image the global auroral oval, and FAST will observe and characterize microphysical processes taking place in the auroral ionosphere. In addition, ISTP includes coordinated ground-based observations of ionospheric convection using radar, and mission-oriented theory teams to tackle the physics and model the processes.
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From page 62... ...
FAST, passing through the low-altitude auroral acceleration region, will be able to address specific questions concerning what accelerates auroral particles, how parallel electric field and currents are established and regulated, and what specific instabilities and wave-particle interactions are involved. The Earth's magnetosphere is not the only magnetospheric focus.
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From page 63... ...
Besides the optical imagers, the Cassini payload also contains an instrument that will provide images of the regions of the saturnian magnetosphere that emit energetic neutral atoms. Those data will in turn yield large-scale views of Saturn's magnetospheric energetic particle populations and their time variations.
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From page 64... ...
For example, a combination of an electron gun and wave-particle instrument package for diagnostics launched on a rocket could provide detailed information on electric field structures for accelerating auroral electrons along the geomagnetic field and might also shed light on file:///C|/SSB_old_web/strach3.html (10 of 12)
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From page 65... ...
For example, multispacecraft missions to skim the dayside magnetopause near the equator from dawn to dusk or from pole to pole would greatly enhance our understanding of the important physical processes contributing to the flow of energy, mass, and momentum from the solar wind into the magnetosphere on many different plasma scale lengths. Similarly, the auroral acceleration region (near altitudes of ~1 Earth radius)
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