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The High- and Low-Latitude Boundary Layers in the Magnetotail

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Part of the book series: NATO Science Series ((ASIC,volume 537))

Abstract

Interball has unique possibilities for boundary layer studies. In one year Interball-1 systematically scans all local times, crossing the magnetopause at high latitudes outbound (ZSE in the range 10-17 RE) and near the equatorial plane inbound. Most other spacecraft, which have been used for boundary layer studies in the tail, for example ISEE 1 and 2 and Geotail, have been equatorial.

The magnetospheric boundary layer is usually divided into the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL), the entry layer, and the mantle (high-latitude boundary layer). These regions are supplied with plasma from the magnetosheath in different ways, depending on the interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind conditions. Dayside merging/reconnection is the most widely accepted supply mechanism, and is usually thought to dominate, at least during southward IMF. Interball data show that processes at high latitudes and along the flanks are also important.

In this paper two northward IMF cases are presented, one from the dawnside and one from the duskside. On October 4, 1997 nearly conjugate measurements were made by Interball-2 and Interball-1 of injection structures of magnetosheath origin above the morningside auroral oval and in the dawnside low-latitude boundary layer. The LLBL was found to be a mosaic of two different types of plasma, one sheath-like tailward streaming and one with a transverse-earthward flow direction. The sheath-like population dominated in the outer LLBL and the transverse-earthward streaming in the inner LLBL, but in both regions there were isolated pockets of the other population. The pockets of sheath-like plasma in the inner LLBL were associated with localized field-aligned currents and are proposed to be related to the dispersion structures seen in the ionosphere.

An example of dispersion structures of magnetosheath-like protons on the dusk side was found by Interball-2 on January 11, 1997. The dispersion events appeared all the way from 16 to 21 MLT, that is much later than reported in previous studies of such events. It is suggested that these events result from impulsive entry of magnetosheath ions through the duskside flank.

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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Sandahl, I. (1999). The High- and Low-Latitude Boundary Layers in the Magnetotail. In: Sibeck, D.G., Kudela, K. (eds) Interball in the ISTP Program. NATO Science Series, vol 537. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4487-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4487-2_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-5864-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4487-2

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