Multi-scale magnetic field intermittence in the plasma sheet

Z. Vörös (1) , W. Baumjohann (1) , R. Nakamura (1) , A. Runov (1) , T. L. Zhang (1) , M. Volwerk (1) , H. U. Eichelberger (1) , A. Balogh (2) , T. S. Horbury (2) , K.-H. Glassmeier (3) , B. Klecker (4) , H. Rème (5)

1 IWF - Institut für Weltraumforschung = Space Research institute [Graz]
2 Imperial College London
3 Technische Universität Braunschweig = Technical University of Braunschweig [Braunschweig]
4 MPE - Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik
5 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements

This paper demonstrates that intermittent magnetic field fluctuations in the plasma sheet exhibit transitory, localized, and multi-scale features. We propose a multifractal-based algorithm, which quantifies intermittence on the basis of the statistical distribution of the "strength of burstiness", estimated within a sliding window. Interesting multi-scale phenomena observed by the Cluster spacecraft include large-scale motion of the current sheet and bursty bulk flow associated turbulence, interpreted as a cross-scale coupling (CSC) process.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

Z. Vörös, W. Baumjohann, R. Nakamura, A. Runov, T. L. Zhang, et al.. Multi-scale magnetic field intermittence in the plasma sheet. Annales Geophysicae, 2003, 21 (9), pp.1955-1964. ⟨hal-00329284⟩