The dynamics of the plasmasphere: Recent results

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review recent advances in the study of the Earth's plasmasphere. Most of these have been obtained with data from two missions launched in 2000, Cluster and IMAGE. Indeed, those missions have deeply modified our understanding of this region due to their specificity: Cluster is a 4-spacecraft mission and IMAGE a global imaging mission, both types studying the plasmasphere for the first time. We review here some results of recent studies of the global evolution of the plasmasphere under the increase of the geomagnetic activity: plasmaspheric erosion, evolution of the plasmapause, plasmaspheric plumes, modification in the plasmaspheric corotation, refilling of the plasmasphere and evolution towards a smooth plasmasphere during prolonged quiet period. We also review results on plasmaspheric waves, which are formed and propagate at all stages of plasmaspheric evolution.