HR: 09:48h
AN: SM11B-08    [Abstracts]
TI: The specific entropy of the LFM plasma sheet
AU: * Guild, T
EM: timothy.guild@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, 15049 Conference Center Drive CH3/210, Chantilly, VA 20151, United States
AU: Spence, H
EM: spence@bu.edu
AF: Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, United States
AU: Wiltberger, M
EM: wiltbemj@ucar.edu
AF: NCAR/HAO, 3080 Center Green, Boulder, CO 80301, United States
AB: The specific entropy of the Earth's plasma sheet is central to the theory of transport within the plasma sheet, relating to the stability criterion for interchange motions and thus "bubble" formation. We here use the specific entropy parameter to characterize the stability of a global MHD model in the plasma sheet during a simulated substorm. We demonstrate that the earthward-penetrating fast-flow channels are predominantly depleted of entropy, and show this non-adiabaticity is likely caused by their association with localized reconnection regions.
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2744 Magnetotail
DE: 2752 MHD waves and instabilities (2149, 6050, 7836)
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting