Plasma populations in the magnetosphere during the passage of magnetic cloud on January 10–11, 1997: INTERBALL/tail probe observations

Abstract

The INTERBALL/Tail Probe observations of several unusual features of the plasma populations in the Earth's magnetosphere during the passage of the magnetic cloud on January 6–11, 1997 are presented. Interaction of high‐pressure pulses on leading and trailing edges of the cloud with the magnetosphere resulted in its strong compression and large‐scale motions of the geomagnetic tail. Several important consequences of this interaction were: (1) observations of the magnetopause position 6RE nearer to the Earth than on average; (2) a huge increase in the magnetosheath plasma density and temperature; and (3) oscillation of magnetospheric tail structures past the satellite. These observations are discussed and compared with several models.