Abstract Magnetic flux integral quantities (e.g., flux tube entropy, flux tube content) are conserved quantities under the frozen‐in assumption. The change of these quantities often indicates the violation of the frozen‐in condition (e.g., interchange instability). In this study, we combine the Cassini CAPS and CHEMS moments data with a steady‐state magnetic field model (i.e., the Caudal model) to estimate the flux tube mass and flux tube entropy in Saturn's magnetosphere. Our statistical survey found that the flux tube mass rapidly decreases with radial distance away from Saturn in the inner magnetosphere and roughly levels out in the middle magnetosphere. This indicates that the radial transport processes could occur via a double‐reconnection process in the inner magnetosphere, while the radial transport processes appear to be more advective in the middle magnetosphere. Notice that Saturn's magnetosphere is stabilized by a radially increasing profile of flux tube entropy and destabilized by a radially decreasing profile of flux tube content. In this study, we also estimate the expected penetration location by using the flux tube interchange stability formalism developed by Southwood and Kivelson (1987,https://doi.org/10.1029/ja092ia01p00109). The results show that flux tube entropy can play a crucial role in braking the injections, while the flux tube content has a relatively smaller influence on the injected flux tube, being consistent with our previous case study by Wing et al. (2022,https://doi.org/10.3847/1538‐4357/ac85b2).
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What Is Unusual About the Third Largest Geomagnetic Storm of Solar Cycle 24?
Abstract We report on the solar and interplanetary (IP) causes of the third largest geomagnetic storm (26 August 2018) in solar cycle 24. The underlying coronal mass ejection (CME) originating from a quiescent filament region becomes a 440 km/s magnetic cloud (MC) at 1 au after ∼5 days. The prolonged CME acceleration (for ∼24 hr) coincides with the time profiles of the post‐eruption arcade intensity and reconnected flux. Chen et al. (2019,https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab3f36) obtain a lower speed since they assumed that the CME does not accelerate after ∼12 hr. The presence of multiple coronal holes near the filament channel and the high‐speed wind from them seem to have the combined effect of producing complex rotation in the corona and IP medium resulting in a high‐inclination MC. The Dst time profile in the main phase steepens significantly (rapid increase in storm intensity) coincident with the density increase (prominence material) in the second half of the MC. Simulations using the Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere‐Ionosphere model show that a higher ring current energy results from larger dynamic pressure (density) in MCs. Furthermore, the Dst index is highly correlated with the main‐phase time integral of the ring current injection that includes density, consistent with the simulations. A complex temporal structure develops in the storm main phase if the underlying MC has a complex density structure during intervals of southward IP magnetic field. We conclude that the high intensity of the storm results from the prolonged CME acceleration, complex rotation of the CME flux rope, and the high density in the 1‐au MC.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2043131
- PAR ID:
- 10495841
- Publisher / Repository:
- AGU American Geophysical Union
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
- Volume:
- 127
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 2169-9380
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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