1,386 research outputs found

    A numerical model of the effects of time-varying reconnection - I: Ionospheric convection

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    This paper presents a numerical model for predicting the evolution of the pattern of ionospheric convection in response to general time-dependent magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause and in the cross-tail current sheet of the geomagnetic tail. The model quantifies the concepts of ionospheric flow excitation by Cowley and Lockwood (1992), assuming a uniform spatial distribution of ionospheric conductivity. The model is demonstrated using an example in which travelling reconnection pulses commence near noon and then move across the dayside magnetopause towards both dawn and dusk. Two such pulses, 8min apart, are used and each causes the reconnection to be active for 1min at every MLT that they pass over. This example demonstrates how the convection response to a given change in the interplanetary magnetic field (via the reconnection rate) depends on the previous reconnection history. The causes of this effect are explained. The inherent assumptions and the potential applications of the model are discussed. Ionosphere (ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions; plasma convection) - Magnetospheric physics (magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions; solar wind-magnetosphere interactions

    The dependence of cusp ion signatures on reconnection rate

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    The interpretation of structure in cusp ion dispersions is important for helping to understand the temporal and spatial structure of magnetopause reconnection. "Stepped" and "sawtooth" signatures have been shown to be caused by temporal variations in the reconnection rate under the same physical conditions for different satellite trajectories. The present paper shows that even for a single satellite path, a change in the amplitude of any reconnection pulses can alter the observed signature and even turn sawtooth into stepped forms and vice versa. On 20 August 1998, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) craft F-14 crossed the cusp just to the south of Longyearbyen, returning on the following orbit. The two passes by the DMSP F-14 satellites have very similar trajectories and the open-closed field line boundary (OCB) crossings, as estimated from the SSJ/4 precipitating particle data and Polar UVI images, imply a similarly-shaped polar cap, yet the cusp ion dispersion signatures differ substantially. The cusp crossing at 08:54 UT displays a stepped ion dispersion previously considered to be typical of a meridional pass, whereas the crossing at 10:38 UT is a sawtooth form ion dispersion, previously considered typical of a satellite travelling longitudinally with respect to the OCB. It is shown that this change in dispersed ion signature is likely to be due to a change in the amplitude of the pulses in the reconnection rate, causing the stepped signature. Modelling of the low-energy ion cutoff under different conditions has reproduced the forms of signature observed

    Recurrent substorm activity during the passage of a corotating interaction region

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    Recent observations of magnetospheric dynamics driven by interaction with both high-speed solar wind streams (HSSs) and interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) have shown periodic substonns to be common under strong driving, but with different periods of similar to 4 and 2-3 h, respectively. However, it is unclear what causes these substorms and what determines their periodicity. Observations during the passage of a corotating interaction region preceding a high-speed stream are presented here and the observed enhancements in the AE index are shown to be a quasi-periodic sequence of substorms. The occurrence times of these substorms and the variation of the AL index are shown to be consistent with a simple loading-unloading model without the need for external triggers. A possible explanation is given for the lengthening of the inter-substorm period during HSS relative to that of sawtooth events during ICMEs. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

    Introduction to special issue on high speed solar wind streams and geospace interactions (HSS-GI)

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    This special issue of the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics is devoted to research into high speed solar wind streams (HSSs) and their effects on the region of near-Earth space commonly known as ‘geospace’. Interest in the effects of HSSs has increased during the last solar cycle and, following the successful meeting focusing on corotating solar wind streams in Manaus, Brazil (Tsurutani et al., 2006), we recognised the need for further work on the topic, with particular focus on HSSs and their effects in the inner magnetosphere, ionosphere, and neutral atmosphere. As a result the High Speed Solar Wind Streams and Geospace Interactions (HSS–GI) Workshop was held at Hilltop, St. Martin's College in Ambleside, UK, from 2 to 7 September, 2007 (Kavanagh and Denton, 2007; Denton et al., 2008 M.H. Denton, J.E. Borovsky, R.B. Horne, R.L. McPherron, S.K. Morley and B.T. Tsurutani, High speed solar wind streams: a call for key research, EOS Trans. AGU 89 (7) (2008), pp. 62–63. Full Text via CrossRef | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (7)Denton et al., 2009), sponsored by the Department of Communication Systems at Lancaster University. The majority of the work presented in this special issue was prompted by discussion and interaction at the workshop. It is indeed an indication of the importance of HSSs that the papers in this issue cover the entire region from the Sun and solar wind, through the magnetosphere, and into the ionosphere, thermosphere, and down to the stratosphere. It is hoped that this research will stimulate more understanding, appreciation, and research, into these important drivers of physical phenomena within geospace

    RAM-SCB Model Description Runs

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    This archive contains data files from two simulations of the Ring current Atmosphere interactions Model with Self Consistent magnetic field (RAM-SCB). These simulations were performed for, and used in, the paper “Improved simulations of the inner magnetosphere during high geomagnetic activity with the RAM-SCB model”, M.A. Engel, S.K. Morley, M.G. Henderson, V.K. Jordanova, J.R. Woodroffe, R. Mahfu

    Turbulent drag reduction by hydrophobic surfaces with shear-dependent slip length

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    The stabilisation of a parabolic equilibrium profile in a three-dimensional (3D) turbulent channel flow for an incompressible fluid is addressed with the objective of achieving drag reduction. The formulation of this problem stems from Balogh’s work [1] where Lyapunov stability analysis was used to devise prototype feedback laws and prove global stability of the solutions. This treatment only considers the controller as a mathematical artefact, but it can actually be linked to physical control strategies modelling hydrophobic surfaces and porous media. In the former, only linear slip velocity boundary conditions (BC) were considered [8]. However, experiments [2] have suggested that the slip length may be shear-dependent. Motivated by these, the effect on drag reduction of a shear-dependent slip length surface is examined in the present study using Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) at Re τ0 = u τ0 δ/ν ≃ 180. δ is the channel half height, u τ0 the wall-shear velocity for regular no-slip walls channel and ν the kinematic viscosity. The theoretical analysis in [5], is extended to this new model. The proposed formulation shows that the skin-friction coefficient can be reduced by tuning the parameters in the shear-dependent slip length model. The results, which verified by DNS simulations, show that by taking a slip length value based on a constant slip model [8] and combining it within a shear-dependent model, up to 50% drag reduction can be obtained. The effect of control is further assessed by formulating the Fukagata identity [4] with general boundaries; the weighted Reynolds shear-stress for each quadrant shows an enhanced reduction in the sweep/ejection events compared to the constant slip model

    Hydrodynamical turbulence by fractal fourier decimation

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    We present a systematic numerical investigation of high-resolution 3D isotropic and homogeneous turbulence resolved on a decimated set of Fourier modes. Fractal decimation acts to decrease the effective dimensionality of the flow by allowing triadic interactions only in a set of Fourier modes N(k) proportional to k^DF for large k. While keeping the symmetries of the original 3D Navier-Stokes equations unchanged, a dramatic change in small-scale statistics is detected at decreasing the fractal dimension DF . Already at fractal dimension DF = 2.8, a global self-similar behaviour is observed in the inertial range of scales, the consequence of such transition are the restoration of the scaling symmetry and vorticity distribution that becomes close to Gaussian. We relate the results to the different roles of local vs non-local interactions in the energy transfer range

    Least Squares Fitting of Chacón-Gielis Curves by the Particle Swarm Method of Optimization

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    Ricardo Chacón generalized Johan Gielis's superformula by introducing elliptic functions in place of trigonometric functions. In this paper an attempt has been made to fit the Chacón-Gielis curves (modified by various functions) to simulated data by the least squares principle. Estimation has been done by the Particle Swarm (PS) methods of global optimization. The Repulsive Particle Swarm optimization algorithm has been used. It has been found that although the curve-fitting exercise may be satisfactory, a lack of uniqueness of Chacón-Gielis parameters to data (from which they are estimated) poses an insurmountable difficulty to interpretation of findings.Least squares multimodal nonlinear curve-fitting; Ricardo Chacón; Jacobian Elliptic functions; Weierstrass ; Gielis super-formula; supershapes; Particle Swarm method; Repulsive Particle Swarm method of Global optimization; nonlinear programming; multiple sub-optima; global; local optima; fit; empirical; estimation; cellular automata; fractals

    Introduction to mineralogy and petrology / S.K. Haldar.

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    Includes bibliographical references (p. 325-326) and index.xviii, 338 pages
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