Data acquiredby the Galileo magnetometer on five passes by Ganymede have been used to characterize Ganymede's internal magnetic moments.
[1] Spatial gradients of high-speed flows in the midtail plasma sheet are determined using multipoint observations from the Cluster spacecraft along the ''dawn-dusk'' direction (perpendicular to the main flow and in the plane of the tail current sheet) and along the north-south direction. If we take the average or median of the spatial gradients and assume that the flow channel has a linear gradient, these values suggest that the full width of the flow channel is 2-3 R E in the ''dawn-dusk'' direction and 1.5-2 R E in the north-south direction. The velocity gradient at the duskward edge of a flow tends to be sharper than that at the dawnward edge, possibly reflecting an asymmetry in the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling process associated with the flow.
Fast vertical flapping oscillations of the plasma sheet have been observed by Cluster on September 26, 2001. The flapping motion had vertical speeds exceeding 100 km/s, an amplitude in excess of 1 RE and a quasiperiod of ∼3 min. The current sheet was mostly tilted in the Y‐Z plane (with the tilt sometimes exceeding 45°). The waves had the properties of a kink mode and propagated toward the dusk flank. The flapping allowed to probe the vertical structure of the plasma sheet. Three different methods gave consistent evidence of a bifurcated structure of the cross‐tail current with about half of all current concentrated in two sheets (each ∼500–1000 km thick). The current density peaks at ∣Bx∣ ∼ 0.5 BL, with a pronounced current density minimum and a plasma density plateau between these peaks.
On 3 January 2000, the Galileo spacecraft passed close to Europa when it was located far south of Jupiter's magnetic equator in a region where the radial component of the magnetospheric magnetic field points inward toward Jupiter. This pass with a previously unexamined orientation of the external forcing field distinguished between an induced and a permanent magnetic dipole moment model of Europa's internal field. The Galileo magnetometer measured changes in the magnetic field predicted if a current-carrying outer shell, such as a planet-scale liquid ocean, is present beneath the icy surface. The evidence that Europa's field varies temporally strengthens the argument that a liquid ocean exists beneath the present-day surface.
Abstract. Thirty rapid crossings of the magnetotail current sheet by the Cluster spacecraft during July-October 2001 at a geocentric distance of 19 R E are examined in detail to address the structure of the current sheet. We use four-point magnetic field measurements to estimate electric current density; the current sheet spatial scale is estimated by integration of the translation velocity calculated from the magnetic field temporal and spatial derivatives. The local normalrelated coordinate system for each case is defined by the combining Minimum Variance Analysis (MVA) and the curlometer technique. Numerical parameters characterizing the plasma sheet conditions for these crossings are provided to facilitate future comparisons with theoretical models. Three types of current sheet distributions are distinguished: centerpeaked (type I), bifurcated (type II) and asymmetric (type III) sheets. Comparison to plasma parameter distributions show that practically all cases display non-Harris-type behavior, i.e. interior current peaks are embedded into a thicker plasma sheet. The asymmetric sheets with an off-equatorial current density peak most likely have a transient nature. The ion contribution to the electric current rarely agrees with the current computed using the curlometer technique, indicating that either the electron contribution to the current is strong and variable, or the current density is spatially or temporally structured.
[1] During the interval 0947 -0951 UT on 1 October 2001, when Cluster was located at X GSM = À16.4 R E near Z GSM = 0 in the pre-midnight magnetotail, the Cluster barycenter crosses the neutral sheet four times. High speed proton flow, with reversal from tailward to Earthward, was detected during the crossings. Using a linear gradient/curl estimator technique we estimate current density and magnetic field curvature within the crossings. These observations exhibit the tailward passage of an X-line over the Cluster tetrahedron. These current sheet has a bifurcated structure in the regions of tailward and earthward flows and a flat and/or slightly bifurcated thin current sheet in between. A distinct quadrupolar Hall magnetic field component was observed.
Abstract. Using four-point magnetic field measurements by the Cluster spacecraft, we statistically analyze the magnetic field and electric current configurations during rapid crossings of the current sheet observed in July-October 2001 at geocentric distances of 19 R E . The database includes 78 crossings, specially selected to apply multi-point data analysis techniques to calculate vector derivatives. Observed bipolar variations of j z , often with |j z |>j y , indicate that the electric currents follow kinks of the current sheet. The current density varies between 5-25 nA/m 2 . The half-thickness of the current sheet during flapping varies over a wide range, from 1 to 20 ion thermal gyroradii (L cp , calculated from average temperature and lobe magnetic field for each crossing). We found no relationship between the tilt angle of the current sheet normal and the half-thickness. In 68 cases the magnetic field curvature vector has a positive (earthward) X-component. Ten cases with a negative (tailward) curvature, associated with reconnection, were detected within 0
The current sheet structure and motion at XGSM = −19.5 RE, observed by Cluster/FGM during 1055–1107 UT on 29 August 2001, is examined. It is found that during the interval 1055–1102 UT the current sheet moves vertically up and down with a velocity of about 60 km/s. During this interval the current sheet has a bifurcated structure: electric current is concentrated in two sheets with an extended layer of weak nearly uniform magnetic field in between. In the interval 1103–1107 UT the current sheet moves slowly upward and the current sheet has a Harris‐type structure. By using four‐spacecraft timing analysis, it is shown that the fast motion and bifurcation of the current sheet are associated with a wave‐like transient propagating in the dawn‐to‐dusk direction.
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