A Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of the Interchange Cycle for Oblique Northward Interplanetary Magnetic Field

Publisher： John Wiley & Sons Inc

E-ISSN： 2169-9402|123|1|272-286

ISSN： 2169-9380

Source： JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: SPACE PHYSICS, Vol.123, Iss.1, 2018-01, pp. : 272-286

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

AbstractWe perform numerical modeling of the interchange cycle in the magnetosphere‐ionosphere convection system for oblique northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The interchange cycle results from the coupling of IMF‐to‐lobe reconnection and lobe‐to‐closed reconnection. Using a global magnetohydrodynamic simulation code, for an IMF clock angle of 20° (measured from due north), we successfully reproduced the following features of the interchange cycle. (1) In the ionosphere, for each hemisphere, there appears a reverse cell circulating exclusively in the closed field line region (the reciprocal cell). (2) The topology transition of the magnetic field along a streamline near the equatorial plane precisely represents the magnetic flux reciprocation during the interchange cycle. (3) Field‐aligned electric fields on the interplanetary‐open separatrix and on the open‐closed separatrix are those that are consistent with IMF‐to‐lobe reconnection and lobe‐to‐closed reconnection, respectively. These three features prove the existence of the interchange cycle in the simulated magnetosphere‐ionosphere system. We conclude that the interchange cycle does exist in the real solar wind‐magnetosphere‐ionosphere system. In addition, the simulation revealed that the reciprocal cell described above is not a direct projection of the diffusion region as predicted by the “vacuum” model in which diffusion is added a priori to the vacuum magnetic topology. Instead, the reciprocal cell is a consequence of the plasma convection system coupled to the so‐called NBZ (“northward Bz”) field‐aligned current system.

Related content

Observation of a retreating x line and magnetic islands poleward of the cusp during northward interplanetary magnetic field conditions

By  

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: SPACE PHYSICS, Vol. 119, Iss. 12, 2014-12 ,pp. : 9643-9657 (15)

John Wiley & Sons Inc

Access to resources Recommend Favorite

Investigation of the interhemispheric asymmetry in reverse convection near solstice during northward interplanetary magnetic field conditions using MHD simulations

By  

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: SPACE PHYSICS, Vol. 118, Iss. 7, 2013-07 ,pp. : 4289-4297 (9)

John Wiley & Sons Inc

Access to resources Recommend Favorite

Interplanetary magnetic field and solar cycle dependence of Northern Hemisphere F region joule heating

By  

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: SPACE PHYSICS, Vol. 120, Iss. 2, 2015-02 ,pp. : 1478-1487 (10)

John Wiley & Sons Inc

Access to resources Recommend Favorite

Direct observations of the full Dungey convection cycle in the polar ionosphere for southward interplanetary magnetic field conditions

By  

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: SPACE PHYSICS, Vol. 120, Iss. 6, 2015-06 ,pp. : 4519-4530 (12)

John Wiley & Sons Inc

Access to resources Recommend Favorite

Sector structure of the interplanetary magnetic field in the nineteenth century

By  

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, Vol. 40, Iss. 14, 2013-07 ,pp. : 3512-3516 (5)

John Wiley & Sons Inc

Access to resources Recommend Favorite