Cluster observations in the inner magnetosphere during the 18 April 2002 sawtooth event: Dipolarization and injection at r = 4.6 RE

Abstract

The present study examines a sawtooth injection event that took place around 0800 UT on 18 April 2002 when the Cluster spacecraft were located in the inner magnetosphere in the premidnight sector. In association with this injection, Cluster, at a radial distance of 4.6 RE, observed that the local magnetic field became more dipolar and that both ion and electron fluxes increased without notable energy dispersion. These features were accompanied by intensifications of the equatorward component of a double-oval structure and also by an enhancement of the ring-current oxygen ENA flux. The event was also accompanied by large magnetic field (a few tens of nT) and electric field (a few tens of mV/m) fluctuations with characteristic timescales of a few tens of seconds. These observations strongly suggest that this sawtooth injection extended not only widely in local time but also deeply into the inner magnetosphere. Interestingly, Cluster repeatedly observed dipolarization-like signatures afterward, which, however, were not associated with enhancements of local energetic ion flux or with geosynchronous dipolarization or injection signatures. Instead, these magnetic signatures were accompanied by oscillatory plasma motion in the radial direction with a characteristic timescale of about 10 min, which appears to be related to the westward propagation of a spatially periodic auroral structure. The associated azimuthal electric field component was well correlated with the time derivative of the north-south magnetic field component, suggesting that the observed electric field is inductive. These findings suggest that electromagnetic processes far inside geosynchronous orbit play an important role in energization of energetic ions and auroral dynamics during magnetospheric storms. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.