Identification

Title

Using a global magnetohydrodynamic model to study the start of the substorm recovery phase

Abstract

Magnetospheric substorms are a key manifestation of the transfer of energy from the solar wind to the Earth. Substorms consist of a loading of energy from the solar wind via magnetic reconnection and then a rapid release of that energy. One of the results of this energy release is the intense brightening of the aurora observed in the Earth's high-latitude regions. At some point, the dissipation of energy peaks and the system recovers. This paper focuses on addressing the question of what causes the transition to the recovery phase of the substorm typically defined by the retreat of the substorm magnetic reconnection site, or neutral line, in the magnetotail. One suggested hypothesis is that the expansion of the dipolarization of the magnetic field in the inner magnetosphere causes the neutral line to move tailward. We use the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry magnetohydrodynamic code to model seven substorms to examine what causes the neutral line retreat in the simulation. We conclude that while the simulation reproduces the substorms with the loading and unloading of energy, the retreat of the neutral line is a directly driven process that is controlled by the solar wind.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d77p8zwg

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-12-16T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact