SM44A-08
MMS Observations of Kinetic Features in the Earth’s Bursty Bulk Flow Braking Region
Thursday, 17 December 2015: 17:36
2018 (Moscone West)
Katherine Goodrich1, Robert Ergun2, Frederick D Wilder1, Andrew Paul Sturner3, Justin Holmes3, Julia E Stawarz3, David Malaspina4, Maria Usanova1, Roy B Torbert5, Per-Arne Lindqvist6, Yuri V Khotyaintsev7, James L Burch8, Christopher T Russell9, Robert J Strangeway9, Craig J Pollock10, Werner Magnes11, Olivier Le Contel12, Barbara L Giles13, Mark Chutter14, Jerry Needell15, David Rau14 and Daniel J Gershman16, (1)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Univ Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)University of Colorado, Boulder, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States, (5)University of New Hampshire Main Campus, Durham, NH, United States, (6)KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, (7)IRF Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, (8)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, United States, (9)University of California Los Angeles, IGPP/EPSS, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (10)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics Sci. Div., Greenbelt, MD, United States, (11)Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria, (12)Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (UMR7648), CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique/UPMC/Univ. Paris Sud/Obs. de Paris, Paris, France, (13)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (14)University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States, (15)Univ New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States, (16)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Abstract:
We present MMS observations of particle and wave activity in the Earth’s Bursty Bulk Flow (BBF) Braking region (6 – 12 Earth radii tailward). This region, previously examined by the THEMIS spacecraft, has shown evidence of bursty, high velocity, Earthward particle flows, turbulent magnetic fields, and large amplitude electric field signatures (amplitudes can, at times, exceed 100 mV/m). Kinetic features such as double layers, electron phase-space holes, and magnetic holes have been observed frequently throughout this region. The Magnetospheric Multi-scale (MMS) spacecraft, launched March 2015, are currently orbiting the Earth with the objective of observing the microphysics of magnetic reconnection. During its commissioning phase (March 2015 – August 2015), all four spacecraft apogees were primarily in the BBF Braking region. The presence of MMS in this region can offer higher spatial and temporal resolution of the BBF Braking region than ever before. We examine MMS observations kinetic structures (double layers, electron phase-space and magnetic holes) to further characterize the BBF braking region and its overall effects on the Earth space environment.
