Equatorial distributions of the plasma sheet ions, their electric and magnetic drifts, and magnetic fields under different interplanetary magnetic field Bz conditions

Abstract

To understand the nightside plasma sheet structure under different interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz conditions, we have investigated statistically the equatorial distributions of ions and magnetic fields from Geotail when the IMF has been continuously northward or southward for shorter or longer than 1 hour. A dawn‐dusk density (temperature) asymmetry with higher density (temperature) on the dawn (dusk) side is seen in the near‐Earth plasma sheet during northward IMF, resulting in roughly dawn‐dusk symmetric pressure. As southward IMF proceeds, the density asymmetry weakens while the temperature asymmetry maintains, resulting in higher pressure on the dusk side. The plasma sheet is relatively colder and denser near the flanks than around midnight. The flux distributions show that the density asymmetry is due to ions <∼3 keV, and the temperature asymmetry is due to ions above thermal energy. The perpendicular flow shows that ions divert around the Earth mainly through the dusk side in the inner plasma sheet because of westward diamagnetic drift. The magnetic fields indicate that field lines are more stretched during southward IMF. Ions' electric and magnetic drift paths evaluated from the observations show that for thermal energy ions, magnetic drift is as important as electric drift. Comparison of the distributions of the observed phase space density with the evaluated drift paths at different energies indicates that the electric and magnetic drift transport is responsible for the observed dawn‐dusk asymmetries in the plasma sheet structure.