Observations of plasma vortices in the vicinity of flow-braking: A case study

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2009

Abstract

We examine fast plasma flows and magnetic field fluctuations observed by THEMIS at 03:00-03:30 UT on 12 December 2007. All THEMIS probes are situated in the near-Earth plasma sheet (XSM>-10 RE) with 1-2 RE spacecraft separations in azimuthal and radial directions. We focus on the observations of plasma convective flows made simultaneously by more than one THEMIS probe. At about 03:10 UT and 03:14 UT, the THEMIS P2 probe observed earthward flows of >100 km/s. The THEMIS P1 probe, located duskward and earthward of P2, observed tailward flows under a positive Bz. The inner most probe THEMIS P4, located at almost the same MLT as THEMIS P1 and P2, did not see any clear flow. We examine the convective flow patterns for the THEMIS observations. We conclude that plasma vortices are formed near the region where the earthward flows slow down and turn in azimuthal directions. © 2009 Author(s).

Identifier

78650286880 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Annales Geophysicae

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-3009-2009

e-ISSN

14320576

ISSN

09927689

First Page

3009

Last Page

3017

Issue

8

Volume

27

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