Abstract
The Moon-based Extreme Ultraviolet Camera (EUVC) of the Chang’e 3 mission provides a global and instantaneous meridian view (side view) of the Earth’s plasmasphere. The plasmasphere is one inner component of the whole magnetosphere, and the configuration of the plasmasphere is sensitive to magnetospheric activity (storms and substorms). However, the response of the plasmaspheric configuration to substorms is only partially understood, and the EUVC observations provide a good opportunity to investigate this issue. By reconstructing the global plasmaspheric configuration based on the EUVC images observed during 20–22 April 2014, we show that in the observing period, the plasmasphere had three bulges which were located at different geomagnetic longitudes. The inferred midnight transit times of the three bulges, using the rotation rate of the Earth, coincide with the expansion phase of three substorms, which implies a causal relationship between the substorms and the formation of the three bulges on the plasmasphere. Instead of leading to plasmaspheric erosion as geomagnetic storms do, substorms initiated on the nightside of the Earth cause local inflation of the plasmasphere in the midnight region.
Highlights
A b latest instrument working at the 30.4 nm wavelength band for remote imaging observation of the plasmasphere
By reconstructing the global plasmaspheric configuration based on these EUVC images, we find that in the observing period, the plasmasphere had three bulges which were located at different geomagnetic longitudes
When discussing configurations of the plasmasphere, we are more interested in the magnetic coordinate systems, since the plasmasphere is confined by the geomagnetic field[1]
Summary
A b latest instrument working at the 30.4 nm wavelength band for remote imaging observation of the plasmasphere (see Methods for the EUVC imaging principle). Because the EUVC is fixed on the lander of Chang’e 3, the track of the EUVC in space is basically the same as the orbit of the Moon, which is roughly 60 RE away from the Earth It can provide a global and instantaneous meridian view (side view)[31,32] of the Earth’s plasmasphere and its observations provide a good opportunity to investigate the responses of the plasmaspheric configuration to substorms. The inferred midnight transit times of the three bulges, using the rotation rate of the Earth, coincide with the expansion phase[36] of three contemporarily happened substorms This result implies a causal relationship between the substorms and the formation of the three bulges on the plasmasphere
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