HR: 09:25h
AN: SA11A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: The Cusps from Magnetosheath to Ionosphere
AU: * Keith, W
EM: wayne.keith@gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 612.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Stubbs, T
EM: Timothy.J.Stubbs@gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 612.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Fazakerley, A
EM: anf@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
AF: Mullard Space Science Lab, Holmbury St Mary Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6NT United Kingdom
AU: RŠme, H
EM: reme@cesr.fr
AF: CESR, BP4346 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, Toulouse, 31028 France
AU: Balogh, A
EM: a.balogh@ic.ac.uk
AF: Imperial College Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, The Blackett Laboratory, London, United Kingdom
AB: The magnetospheric cusps are persistent, yet dynamic features of the magnetosphere, and an important conduit between solar wind and ionospheric plasma populations. Mid- and high-altitude data from Cluster, along with low-altitude DMSP data, ACE solar wind data, and ground-based SuperDARN convection data are combined in order to synthesize an overall picture of the particle transport through the cusps. Solar wind parameters affect the nature and position of plasma entry at the magnetopause, as well as the position and characteristics of the cusp region. High altitude cusp and magnetosheath data from Cluster are utilized during dayside apogee, while mid-altitude cusp data are sampled during periods of dayside perigee. The multiple Cluster satellites enable temporal and spatial features to be distinguished, allowing direct comparisons with the more instantaneous low-altitude crossings of the DMSP spacecraft. Over 100 Cluster/DMSP magnetic conjunctions in the cusps have been identified between 2001 and 2004, from which two events representing the two Cluster altitude regimes have been selected. Global convection patterns derived from SuperDARN data further place events into an overall context. Together, these various data sets describe a pathway from the Sun to the Earth that constitutes an important source of mass, momentum, and energy transport into the Earth's magnetosphere.
DE: 2724 Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly