Near-Earth plasma-sheet cumulative magnetic flux transport comparison for several different runs using the Rice Convection Model

Abstract:

The cumulative magnetic flux transport (CMFT) in the near-Earth plasma sheet can be used in identifying the rapid earthward as well tailward flows. We calculated the CMFT based on the simulation results of the Rice Convection Model. The occurrence of bursty bulk flows (BBFs) gives rise to earthward CMFT and it is interesting to observe different runs to study the degree of localized fast flows in transporting magnetic fluxes to the near-Earth orbit. We have simulated three different runs, namely, single bubble event, single flow-channel event, and multi-flow-channel event. The bubble/flow channels were launched at around X=-14 R_e. During all three cases, CMFT has been calculated in the nightside equatorial plane at the different locations. Our results show that the type of run strongly influences the CMFT. The present study also gives us a glimpse of braking of the near-Earth flows and its influence on CMFT. At the same point on the nightside equatorial plane, we obtained an entirely different CMFT trend for dissimilar runs. We will discuss the mechanism of the different runs and their influence on the other near-Earth plasma-sheet parameters.