The Impacts of Substorms on the Ring Current

Abstract

<p>Substorms are a highly dynamic process that results in the global redistribution of energy within the magnetosphere. The occurrence of a substorm can provide the inner magnetosphere with hot ions and consequently intensify the ring current population. However, substorms are a highly variable phenomenon that can occur as an isolated event or as part of a sequence. In this study we investigate how substorms shape the energy content, anisotropy, and storm time behaviour of the ring current population.</p><p>Using ion observations (H+, O+, and He+) from the RBSPICE and HOPE instruments onboard the Van Allen Probes, we quantify how the total ring current energy content and ring current anisotropy changes during the substorm process. A statistical analysis demonstrates the impact of a typical substorm energises the ring current by 12% on average. The features of the energy enhancement correlate well with the expected properties of particle injections into the inner magnetosphere, and large enhancements in the O+ contribution to the energy content suggest important compositional variations.</p><p>Analysis also shows that the ring current ions experience significant isotropisation following substorm onset. Although previously attributed to enhanced EMIC wave activity, a consideration of different drivers of the isotropisation identifies that although EMIC wave activity plays a role, the properties of the injected and convected population is the dominant driver.</p><p>Finally, we explore the storm time variations of the ring current, revealing important information on the role of substorms in storm dynamics. A superposed epoch analysis of ring current energy content shows large enhancements particularly in the premidnight sector during the main phase, and a reduction in both local time asymmetry and intensity during the recovery phase. A comparison with estimated energy content using the Sym-H index was conducted. In agreement with previous results, the Sym-H index significantly overestimates energy content. A new finding is an observed temporal discrepancy, where estimates maximise ~ 12 hours earlier than the in-situ observations. We assert that an observed enhancement in substorm activity coincident with the Sym-H recovery is responsible. The results highlight the drawbacks of ring current indices and emphasise the impacts of substorms on the ring current population.</p>