The Breathing Plasmasphere
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plasmasphere↗
Engineering topics
Mark L Adrian
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Plasmaspheric Plume Turbulence: Signature of an Electrostatic Corotation Convection Shear-Layer Instability
As demonstrated by IMAGE-EUV observations, plasmaspheric drainage plumes are a common feature emanating from the plasmasphere during periods of enhanced convection. Concurrent IMAGE-EUV and LANL-MPA observations reveal that plasmaspheric plumes are not a uniform density structure that extends out to geosynchronous orbit and beyond. Instead, in–situ observations reveal a large spatial-scale structure populated by small-scale density structures suggestive of the presence of a turbulent process. Here, we investigate the occurrence and nature of plasmaspheric drainage plumes as observed by concurrent EUV-MPA observations, as well as explore the possibility that the in–situ observed small-scale density structures are the signature of an instability produced by the sheared velocity found within the plasmaspheric layers separating the corotation of the main plasmasphere from the convection-driven flow generating the plume. Particle-in-cell simulations indicate that the generation of shear-flow driven instabilities is possible under plasmaspheric plasma conditions. The initial results of these simulations indicate that the plasmaspheric instabilities generated are electrostatic in nature, consist with in–situ plume observations.
Mark L Adrian↗