Statistics of high-speed electron flows in the terrestrial magnetotail
Presentation Type
Talk
Presenter Format
Virtual Meeting Talk
Topic
Nightside Science
Start Date
11-5-2022 10:30 AM
Abstract
Using observations of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in the terrestrial magnetotail from 2017 to 2020, we perform a systematic survey of fast electron flows with speeds higher than 5000 km/s. High-speed flows are often masked in the plasma moments by low-energy secondary electrons. Using partial moments, we remove these instrument electrons and recalculate the electron moments. After this procedure, we identify a total of 587 events. Here, we show the preliminary results of their statistical properties, including locations, spatial-temporal scales, plasma conditions, and electromagnetic field conditions. We observe a clear dawn-dusk asymmetry in the event locations: after accounting for spacecraft dwell time, 80% of the events are found on the dusk side. Approximately 90% of the events are found in the separatrix region, the plasma sheet boundary layer, or the lobe region, and the rest are near the neutral line. We identify ~20 electron diffusion region candidates, which we are currently analyzing in more detail.
Statistics of high-speed electron flows in the terrestrial magnetotail
Using observations of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in the terrestrial magnetotail from 2017 to 2020, we perform a systematic survey of fast electron flows with speeds higher than 5000 km/s. High-speed flows are often masked in the plasma moments by low-energy secondary electrons. Using partial moments, we remove these instrument electrons and recalculate the electron moments. After this procedure, we identify a total of 587 events. Here, we show the preliminary results of their statistical properties, including locations, spatial-temporal scales, plasma conditions, and electromagnetic field conditions. We observe a clear dawn-dusk asymmetry in the event locations: after accounting for spacecraft dwell time, 80% of the events are found on the dusk side. Approximately 90% of the events are found in the separatrix region, the plasma sheet boundary layer, or the lobe region, and the rest are near the neutral line. We identify ~20 electron diffusion region candidates, which we are currently analyzing in more detail.
