HR: 1340h
AN: SM23B-0433    [Abstracts]
TI: Meso-scale Current Sheet Structures in MHD Simulations
AU: * El-Alaoui, M
EM: mostafa@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: IGPP-UCLA, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AU: Ashour-Abdalla, M
EM: mabdalla@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: IGPP-UCLA, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AU: Richard, R L
EM: rrichard@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: IGPP-UCLA, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AB: Spacecraft observations have indicated that the magnetotail current sheet has significant meso-scale structure. Cluster observations have confirmed the existence and revealed further details of these structures. These structures include bifurcated current sheets as well as wave like structures along and across the magnetotail. Global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations provide a reasonable description of the large-scale structure of the Earth's magnetosphere as it responds to changes to solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) direction. At least some of the observed structure begins to appear in high-resolution simulations, but it is not clear if all the observations can be reproduced this way. These simulations were driven by observed solar wind conditions from the ACE spacecraft, for intervals selected from the Cluster satellite data. We will compare the large scale variations of the current sheet as observed by Cluster to those seen in the global MHD simulations, and then focus on understanding the remaining meso-scale variations. The combination of Cluster observations and a global MHD approach will allow us to determine the physical causes of meso-scale structure and the solar wind and IMF conditions that lead to their formation.
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005