HR: 0830h
AN: SM21B-0200    [PDF]
TI: A Statistical Study of Plasma Sheet Parameters in Geotail Data and the LFM MHD Model
AU: * Guild, T
EM: tguild@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Spence, H
EM: spence@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Kepko, L
EM: lkepko@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Wiltberger, M
EM: wiltbemj@ucar.edu
AF: NCAR/HAO, 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO 80301 United States
AU: Lyon, J
EM: jlyon@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Lyon, J
EM: jlyon@bu.edu
AF: Dartmouth College Department of Physics and Astronomy, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AU: Goodrich, C
EM: ccg@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Huang, C
EM: hcl@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Petschek, H
EM: petschek@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Hughes, J
EM: hughes@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Mukai, T
EM: mukai@stp.isas.ac.jp
AF: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai,Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 229-8510 Japan
AU: Kokubun, S
EM: nagai@geo.titech.ac.jp
AF: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8551 Japan
AB: We present a comparison of statistical analyses of flow patterns in the near-earth plasma sheet of the geomagnetic tail, and in the near-earth simulation domain of global MHD simulations of the magnetosphere. To ensure a valid data/model comparison, we include in the investigation only subsets of both datasets with similar solar wind input conditions. Statistical earthward flow patterns in the geomagnetic tail have been interpreted as the return flow of reconnected field lines in the Dungey convection model of an open magnetosphere. A similar statistically averaged flow pattern in physics-based global MHD models should provide a necessary but not sufficient condition for model validation. We also investigate trends in other MHD parameters to test for comparison validity, and attempt to measure in both datasets the earthward convecting average mass, momentum, and energy flux through the plasma sheet as functions of solar wind conditions, geomagnetic activity, and convection speed.
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2744 Magnetotail
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 2760 Plasma convection
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting