Multi-point, multi-scale investigations of fundamental plasma processes in the earth's magnetosphere
Multi-point, multi-scale investigations of fundamental plasma processes in the earth's magnetosphere
复制标题
地球磁层基本等离子体过程的多点、多尺度研究
DOI：
10.1029/2006ja011968
复制
发表时间：
2005
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
O. Lecontel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
C. Owen;A. Fazakerley;S. Schwartz;T. Horbury;Wolfgang Baumjohann;R. Nakamura;P. Louarn;J. Sauvaud;A. Vaivads;A. Roux;O. Lecontel
在过去的4年里，欧空局的星团任务已经证明，多点测量对于促进我们对地球磁层内部和周围发生的等离子体过程的理解至关重要。这些过程中的许多都与更广泛的等离子体物理宇宙有关。例如，Cluster首次观测到磁尾磁重联部位离子扩散区域内的磁场和等离子体电流结构，以及在地球弓形激波处观测到太阳风等离子体的带电和热化。此外，Cluster对控制地球磁层顶和极磁尖太阳风与磁层耦合的过程以及导致极极光降水的加速过程提供了新的认识。然而，在所有这些领域，很明显，多点和多尺度测量都是建立在Cluster在地球磁层中所做的地面工作基础上所需要的进步。为了充分理解这种中尺度现象，我们需要探测发生在电子（~ 10公里和~ 0.1秒）和离子（100-1000公里和1-5秒）尺度上的潜在微尺度过程。簇的设计不是为了实现临界电子尺度的测量。因此，我们需要对发生在地球磁层中不同尺度上的空间等离子体过程进行采样。在本文中，我们说明了这些后集群科学目标和可能的任务选择，以实现它们。
Over the last 4 years ESA's Cluster mission has demonstrated that multi-point measurements are crucial to promote our understanding of the plasma processes occurring within and around the terrestrial magnetosphere. Many of these processes are relevant in the wider plasma- physical universe. For example, some firsts achieved by Cluster include the observation of the magnetic field and plasma current structure within the ion diffusion region at the site of magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail, and observation of the energization and thermalization of solar wind plasma at the Earths bow shock. In addition, Cluster has provided new insight into processes controlling the coupling between the solar wind and magnetosphere at the terrestrial magnetopause and the polar magnetic cusps, and also in the acceleration processes resulting in polar auroral precipitation. However, in all of these areas, it has become obvious that both multi-point AND multi-scale measurements are very much the advance needed to build on the ground-work made with Cluster in the terrestrial magnetosphere. In order to fully understand such meso-scale phenomena, we need to probe the underlying microscale processes occurring on both electron (∼ 10 km and ∼ 0.1 second) and ion (100-1000 km and 1-5 second) scales. Cluster was not designed to achieve measurement of the critical electron scales. We thus need to sample the space plasma processes that occur on a hierarchy of scales in the terrestrial magnetosphere. In this paper we illustrate these post-Cluster science objectives and possible mission options with which to achieve them.