Abstract
Abstract. Three-dimensional configuration of earthward fast flow in the near-Earth plasma sheet is studied using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations on the basis of the spontaneous fast reconnection model. In this study, the sheared magnetic field in the plasma sheet is newly considered in order to investigate the effects of it to the earthward fast flow, and the results are discussed in comparison with no-shear simulations. The virtual probes located at different positions in our simulation domain in shear/no-shear cases could explain different behavior of fast flows in the real observations.
Highlights
The existence of earthward fast flow events, which are called Bursty Bulk Flows (BBFs) or Flow Bursts (FBs) (Angelopoulos et al, 1992), in the near-Earth plasma sheet during active magnetospheric conditions have been pointed out by a lot of individual case studies (Sergeev et al, 2000, 2001; Angelopoulos et al, 1992)
The spontaneous fast reconnection model was applied to the earthward fast flow events observed in the nearEarth plasma sheet
The 3-D plasma configurations found in the present simulation considering shear magnetic field are summarized as follows: (1) The fast flow channel deflects in the direction of shear field
Summary
The existence of earthward fast flow events, which are called Bursty Bulk Flows (BBFs) or Flow Bursts (FBs) (Angelopoulos et al, 1992), in the near-Earth plasma sheet during active magnetospheric conditions have been pointed out by a lot of individual case studies (Sergeev et al, 2000, 2001; Angelopoulos et al, 1992). These previous studies have shown that earthward BBFs are generally accompanied by dipolarization of the plasma sheet, and BBFs are directed either earthward or tailward. A magnetic loop in our simulations is allowed to be formed because of a wall boundary assumed at one edge of a current sheet system (Ugai et al, 2003)
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