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Toward an integrated view of inner magnetosphere and radiation belts
ARTICLE IN PRESS Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 71 (2009) 1613
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jastp
Preface
Toward an integrated view of inner magnetosphere and radiation belts
As a major constituent of Space Weather, the inner magnetosphere is both intriguing scientifically and important in practical terms to our society. Major recent advances have been achieved in our understanding of the inner magnetosphere as a result of new global observations, and the integration of data sets from the magnetosphere, the ionosphere, the near-earth magnetotail and upstream solar wind. As a result of this perspective, new information has appeared on these diverse topics: such as deviations from plasmaspheric corotation (sub-corotation or super-corotation); plasmapause irregularities; self-consistent electric and magnetic fields in global modeling of inner magnetosphere; ring current shielding; prompt penetration electric fields; the importance of ring current flow-out losses; the relationship between plasmaspheric drainage plumes and storm enhanced density structures; the sources of the o10 keV ion populations; the nature and effects of plasma waves; ion–atom auroras (proton auroras, energetic neutral atom induced aurora); the nature and effects of magnetic field distortions; the consequences of low-beta and low-Mach number plasma flows; the relationship between magnetic storms and substorms; and the effects of the coupled ring current, plasmasphere and ionosphere on radiation belt formation and loss. A variety of recently observed features in ion precipitation are raising additional issues regarding the growth, damping, and consequences of plasma waves in the region of overlap between the ring current and the plasmasphere (i.e., the plasmasphere boundary layer introduced by Carpenter and Lemaire). Waves such as whistler-mode chorus, electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, lightning-generated whistlers, plasmaspheric hiss, and waves from VLF transmitters dynamically couple and influence the highest to lowest energy plasmas. These and other discoveries have led to new questions that increasingly address coupling and feedback processes as well as modifications to the system during different levels of solar wind driving—from weak and recurrent to extreme. One of the primary challenges in this field is to integrate this new information into a comprehensive picture of the inner magnetosphere and the consequences of coupling to the magnetotail as well as to the ionosphere from subauroral to equatorial regions. These topics are currently of high scientific interest, contributing crucial information for ongoing and future research programs, including for example, the upcoming Radiation Belt Storm Probes
mission, the Heliophysics Science Great Observatory efforts, and Space Weather global modeling and prediction programs. Sixty-two presentations were submitted to the 2007 Fall AGU SPA-Magnetospheric Physics special session SM02. Resulting mostly from this successful AGU special session, the papers in this special section cover diverse topics related to the inner magnetosphere research. We hope these papers will attract a wide readership and be timely and valuable to our community. We want to thank many colleagues who participated in reviewing papers. Their effort and comments have significantly improved some of the papers here. Yihua Zheng , Yongliang Zhang Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100, Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Zheng)
Janet U. Kozyra Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
Jay Albert Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Hanscom Air Force Base, MA USA
Jacob Bortnik Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA USA
Dennis L. Gallagher Space Science Department, National Space Science and Technology Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL USA
Ramona L. Kessel NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD USA
Corresponding author.
1364-6826/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2009.04.013
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jastp
Preface
Toward an integrated view of inner magnetosphere and radiation belts
As a major constituent of Space Weather, the inner magnetosphere is both intriguing scientifically and important in practical terms to our society. Major recent advances have been achieved in our understanding of the inner magnetosphere as a result of new global observations, and the integration of data sets from the magnetosphere, the ionosphere, the near-earth magnetotail and upstream solar wind. As a result of this perspective, new information has appeared on these diverse topics: such as deviations from plasmaspheric corotation (sub-corotation or super-corotation); plasmapause irregularities; self-consistent electric and magnetic fields in global modeling of inner magnetosphere; ring current shielding; prompt penetration electric fields; the importance of ring current flow-out losses; the relationship between plasmaspheric drainage plumes and storm enhanced density structures; the sources of the o10 keV ion populations; the nature and effects of plasma waves; ion–atom auroras (proton auroras, energetic neutral atom induced aurora); the nature and effects of magnetic field distortions; the consequences of low-beta and low-Mach number plasma flows; the relationship between magnetic storms and substorms; and the effects of the coupled ring current, plasmasphere and ionosphere on radiation belt formation and loss. A variety of recently observed features in ion precipitation are raising additional issues regarding the growth, damping, and consequences of plasma waves in the region of overlap between the ring current and the plasmasphere (i.e., the plasmasphere boundary layer introduced by Carpenter and Lemaire). Waves such as whistler-mode chorus, electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, lightning-generated whistlers, plasmaspheric hiss, and waves from VLF transmitters dynamically couple and influence the highest to lowest energy plasmas. These and other discoveries have led to new questions that increasingly address coupling and feedback processes as well as modifications to the system during different levels of solar wind driving—from weak and recurrent to extreme. One of the primary challenges in this field is to integrate this new information into a comprehensive picture of the inner magnetosphere and the consequences of coupling to the magnetotail as well as to the ionosphere from subauroral to equatorial regions. These topics are currently of high scientific interest, contributing crucial information for ongoing and future research programs, including for example, the upcoming Radiation Belt Storm Probes
mission, the Heliophysics Science Great Observatory efforts, and Space Weather global modeling and prediction programs. Sixty-two presentations were submitted to the 2007 Fall AGU SPA-Magnetospheric Physics special session SM02. Resulting mostly from this successful AGU special session, the papers in this special section cover diverse topics related to the inner magnetosphere research. We hope these papers will attract a wide readership and be timely and valuable to our community. We want to thank many colleagues who participated in reviewing papers. Their effort and comments have significantly improved some of the papers here. Yihua Zheng , Yongliang Zhang Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100, Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Zheng)
Janet U. Kozyra Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
Jay Albert Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Hanscom Air Force Base, MA USA
Jacob Bortnik Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA USA
Dennis L. Gallagher Space Science Department, National Space Science and Technology Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL USA
Ramona L. Kessel NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD USA
Corresponding author.
1364-6826/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2009.04.013