Lunar dayside current in the terrestrial lobe: ARTEMIS observations

X-Z Zhou; J.S Halekas; V Angelopoulos; A.R Poppe; K.K Khurana; M.G Kivelson; Shahab Fatemi; Mats Holmström

doi:10.1002/2014JA019842

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Lunar dayside current in the terrestrial lobe: ARTEMIS observations

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Lunar dayside current in the terrestrial lobe: ARTEMIS observations

X-Z Zhou, J.S Halekas, V Angelopoulos, A.R Poppe, K.K Khurana, M.G Kivelson, Shahab Fatemi and Mats Holmström

Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics, Vol.119(5), pp.3381-3391

2014

DOI: 10.1002/2014JA019842

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Abstract

We report Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of Moon's Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) dual-probe observations of two events in the terrestrial magnetotail lobe, both characterized by upward moving heavy ions of lunar origin at one of the probes that is magnetically connected with the dayside lunar surface. By treating magnetic measurements at the other probe as the unperturbed lobe fields, we obtain background-subtracted magnetic perturbations (most significantly in Bz) when the first probe moved in the dawn-dusk direction across flux tubes magnetically connected to the Moon. These magnetic perturbations indicate the presence of field-aligned current above the lunar surface. By examining possible carriers of field-aligned current, we find that lunar heavy ions and accompanying electrons both contribute considerably to the current. Observations of the field-aligned current also suggest that the charging process at the dayside lunar surface and the associated lobe plasma environment, which have traditionally been viewed as a one-dimensional current balance problem, are actually more complicated. These observations give the first insights into how heavy ions affect the lunar dayside environment in terms of multispecies plasma dynamics.

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Details

Title: Subtitle: Lunar dayside current in the terrestrial lobe: ARTEMIS observations
Creators: X-Z Zhou - University of California, Los Angeles
J.S Halekas - University of California, Berkeley
V Angelopoulos - University of California, Los Angeles
A.R Poppe - University of California, Berkeley
K.K Khurana - University of California, Los Angeles
M.G Kivelson - University of California, Los Angeles
Shahab Fatemi - Swedish Institute of Space Physics
Mats Holmström - Swedish Institute of Space Physics
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics, Vol.119(5), pp.3381-3391
DOI: 10.1002/2014JA019842
ISSN: 2169-9402
eISSN: 2169-9402
Language: English
Date published: 2014
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9984199697402771

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