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Space Technology 5 (ST-5) Observations of Field-Aligned Currents: Temporal VariabilitySpace Technology 5 (ST-5) is a three micro-satellite constellation deployed into a 300 x 4500 km, dawn-dusk, sun-synchronous polar orbit from March 22 to June 21, 2006, for technology validations. In this paper, we present a study of the temporal variability of field-aligned currents using multi-point magnetic field measurements from STS. The data demonstrate that masoscale current structures are commonly embedded within large-scale field-aligned current sheets. The meso-scale current structures are very dynamic with highly variable current density and/or polarity in time scales of about 10 min. They exhibit large temporal variations during both quiet and disturbed times in such time scales. On the other hand, the data also shown that the time scales for the currents to be relatively stable are about I min for meso-scale currents and about 10 min for large scale current sheets. These temporal features are obviously associated with dynamic variations of their particle carriers (mainly electrons) as they respond to the variations of the parallel electric field in auroral acceleration region. The characteristic time scales for the temporal variability of meso-scale field-aligned currents are found to be consistent with those of auroral parallel electric field.
Document ID
20110007886
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Le, Guan (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
June 22, 2010
Subject Category
Astronomy
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2010 Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Country: Taiwan, Province of China
Start Date: June 22, 2010
End Date: June 25, 2010
Sponsors: Zhejiang Univ.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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