Self-Organization in a plasma transport model in the tail

We will study intermittent energy dissipation in a simple plasma model of the current sheet. In particular, we will focus on the dynamics of the global state that is generated by the self-organization of the underlying localized turbulence under different driving conditions. We propose that this self-organization into an out-of-equilibrium global state [Chang 1998] is necessary to bridge two seemingly contradicting observations: even though the magnetotail plasma sheet appears to be a dynamic and turbulent region [Borovsky et al., 1997], the magnetotail activity seems to be predictable [Vassiliadis et al., 1995], repeatable and globally coherent [Baker et al., 1998] as characterized by it different phases. This approach is in completely agreement with previous results suggesting self-organization in the magnetosphere [Consolini et al., 1997; Lui et al., 2000] We will discuss it's relationship to the substorm physics. Baker et al., Proceedings of Substorms 4, 231, 1998. Borovsky et al., J. Plasma Physics, 57, 1, 1997. Chang, Proceedings of Substorms 4, 431,1998. Consolini et al., Proceedings of VIII GIFCO conference, 123, 1997. Lui et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 911, 2000. Vassiliadis et al., J. Geophys. Res., 100, 3495.