Effects of Bubble Injections on the Plasma Sheet Configuration

Abstract

AbstractThe bimodal transport in the plasma sheet consists of sunward large‐scale, coherent, and slow motion of charged particles in the closed‐field‐line region as well as meso‐scale, localized, and transient fast flow bursts. It has been found that these earthward moving bursty bulk flows, also called “bubbles,” play a crucial role not only in the transporting mass and energy, but also in resolving the pressure‐balance crisis with their integrated effects. In this study, we examine how bubbles can affect the average configuration of the middle and inner plasma sheet using the Inertialized Rice Convection Model (RCM‐I). Bubbles are sporadically imposed at on the nightside plasma sheet, with optimized parameters that constrain their statistical properties. The consequence of the injection of these series of bubbles is evaluated by comparing against observed statistical results, including plasma moments and magnetic field configuration. Our findings confirm that bursty bulk flows are indispensable elements in the magnetotail plasma sheet.