Spatial scale of high-speed flows in the plasma sheet observed by Cluster
Abstract
Spatial gradients of high-speed flows in the midtail plasma sheet are determined using multipoint observations from the Cluster spacecraft along the ``dawn-dusk'' direction (perpendicular to the main flow and in the plane of the tail current sheet) and along the north-south direction. If we take the average or median of the spatial gradients and assume that the flow channel has a linear gradient, these values suggest that the full width of the flow channel is 2-3 RE in the ``dawn-dusk'' direction and 1.5-2 RE in the north-south direction. The velocity gradient at the duskward edge of a flow tends to be sharper than that at the dawnward edge, possibly reflecting an asymmetry in the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling process associated with the flow.
- Publication:
-
Geophysical Research Letters
- Pub Date:
- May 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1029/2004GL019558
- Bibcode:
- 2004GeoRL..31.9804N
- Keywords:
-
- Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetotail boundary layers;
- Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma convection;
- Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma sheet