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Sarafopoulos 2002
Sarafopoulos, D.V. (2002). Dispersive and repetitive Pc5 mode microinjections in the inner magnetosphere. Geophysical Research Letters 29: doi: 10.1029/2001GL014067. issn: 0094-8276.

Dispersive fluxes of energetic electrons with a period of 4 min are identified in the morning sector of the inner plasma sheet and have been measured via the Interball/DOK-2 instrument. These fluxes are termed repetitive microinjections because, as we establish, each microinjection constitutes an individual entity that exhibits energy dispersion like the classical substorm-associated injections. We suggest that these repetitive dispersions are produced from a wavy isospectrum surface, such as a meandering injection boundary near the Earth, combined with a radially outward gradient of energetic electrons. The Greenland ground station magnetometers, at local times similar to that of Interball, record intense Pc5 pulsations with 4 min period and peak-to-peak amplitudes of up to 80 nT. We speculate that the Pc5 pulsations are produced by small-scale Birkeland currents that propagate along the magnetic field lines and have been supplied from small-scale vortices in the plasma sheet.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetosphere--inner, Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetosphere/ionosphere interactions, Magnetospheric Physics, MHD waves and instabilities, Magnetospheric Physics, Plasma sheet, Magnetospheric Physics, Ring current
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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