Continuous tailward flow in the near-Earth magnetotail observed by TC-1 satellite

On July 11, 2004, a substorm process in the period of continuous tailward flow was observed by the joint exploration of the TC-1, IMAGE and ACE satellites. The substorm observed by the TC-1 in the near-Earth has three stages: the growth phase (from 11:43 to 12:19), the pre-expansion process (from 12:19 to 12:28) and the dipolarization process. The auroral brightening was at 12:26 recorded by the FUV instrument on IMAGE, and the dipolarization occurred two minutes later. During the 45 min period of the tailward flow, the magnetotail experienced the growth phase and the pre-expansion process. When the dipolarization process began, the TC-1 entered the plasma sheet and observed a high speed earthward flow. The field-aligned tailward flow is characterized by the low temperature and high density, which is consistent with the properties of the flow from the ionosphere detected in the near-Earth magnetotail by other satellites. The tailward flow is closely related with the southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), and may have an important effect on the substorm.     

Convective high-speed flow and field-aligned high-speed flows explored by TC-1

From June 1, 2004 to October 31, 2006, a total 465 high-speed flow events are observed by the TC-1 satellite in the near-Earth region （-13 RE〈X〈-9 RE, ｜Y｜〈10 RE, ｜Z＋〈5 RE）, Based on the angle between the flow and the magnetic field, the high-speed flow events are further divided into two types, that is, field-aligned high-speed flow （FAHF） in the plasma sheet boundary and convective bursty bulk flow （BBF） in the center plasma sheet, Among the total 465 high-speed flow events, there are 371 FAHFs, and 94 BBFs, The CHF are mainly concentrated in the plasma sheet, the intersection angle between the flow and the magnetic field is larger, the magnetic field intensity is relatively weak, The FHF are mainly distributed near the boundary layer of the plasma sheet, the intersection angle between the flow and magnetic field is smaller, and the magnetic field intensity is relatively strong, The convective BBFs have an important effect on the substorm,     

The distribution characteristics of the flows in the near-Earth region： TC-1 observational results

TC-1 observational results clearly indicate that the velocity of the flows in the near-Earth region is dependent on the satellite location. The flow speed decreases while satellite moves close to the Earth. The plasma flow in the region close to the Earth tends to drift into the midnight region from the dawn and dusk region while the flow in the region away from the Earth shows an opposite drift. The observational results also show that the tailward flows are mainly located in the plasma sheet boundary while the earthward flow becomes dominant in the plasma sheet. It is found that both the strong tailward and earthward flows are distributed in the region around X= -11 Re, which coincides with the trigger region of the substorm onset. Hence, it may suggest that the flows are related with the trigger of the substorm onset. In addition, the BBFs coming from the mid-tail maily distributed in the region where X〈-9R E a n d ｜Z｜ 〈 3 R E that differs from the convection.     

Responses of properties in the plasma sheet and at the geosynchronous orbit to interplanetary shock

On July 22, 2004, the WIND spacecraft detected a typical interplanetary shock. There was sustaining weak southward magnetic field in the preshock region and the southward field was suddenly enhanced across the shock front （i.e., southward turning）. When the shock impinged on the magnetosphere, the magnetospheric plasma convection was abruptly enhanced in the central plasma sheet, which was directly observed by both the TC-1 and Cluster spacecraft located in different regions. Simultaneously, the Cluster spacecraft observed that the dawn-to-dusk electric field was abruptly enhanced. The variations of the magnetic field observed by TC-1, Cluster, GOES-10 and GOES-12 that were distributed in different regions in the plasma sheet and at the geosynchronous orbit are obviously distinct. TC-1 observations showed that the magnetic intensity kept almost unchanged and the elevation angle decreased, but the Cluster spacecraft, which was also in the plasma sheet and was further from the equator, observed that the magnetic field was obviously enhanced. Simultaneously, GOES-12 located near the midnight observed that the magnetic intensity sharply increased and the elevation angle decreased, but GOES-10 located in the dawn side observed that the magnetic field was merely compressed with its three components all sharply increasing. Furthermore, the energetic proton and electron fluxes at nearly all channels observed by five LANL satellites located at different magnetic local times （MLTs） all showed impulsive enhancements due to the compression of the shock. The responses of the energetic particles were much evident on the dayside than those on the nightside. Especially the responses near the midnight were rather weak. In this paper, the possible reasonable physical explanation to above observations is also discussed. All the shock-induced responses are the joint effects of the solar wind dynamic pressure pulse and the magnetic field southward turning.