Evaluation of energetic particle parameters in the near-Earth magnetotail derived from flux asymmetry observations

Abstract

The flux asymmetries measured by spectrometers on board spacecraft contain information on particle parameters. The net flux intensity (NFI) method provides a tool to evaluate these parameters. The NFI method is valid when both the spin period of the spacecraft and the time resolution of the particle spectrometers are much shorter than the characteristic time-scale of the particle flux variations. We apply the NFI analysis to the flux asymmetry measurements made by GEOS 2 at the nightside geosynchronous orbit in the late substorm growth phase. The cross-tail current of energetic ions, their pressure gradient and average drift velocity, as well as a field-aligned flows are investigated. Current disruption at substorm onset and the "convection surge" mechanism during dipolarization of the magnetic field are directly observed.Key words. Flux asymmetry · Net flux intensity · GEOS 2 · Energetic particles