Figure 1 (IMAGE)
Caption
The Earth’s magnetosphere can undergo global compression due to solar wind. This compression creates thin and non-ideal current sheets in the magnetotail. NASA’s MMS spacecraft fly through this compressed, thin current sheet, and reveal that a small-scale electric field forms (blue line on plot) which generates a highly sheared electron flow that drives lower hybrid waves (bright spots in plot) while the plasma density is relatively flat (orange dashed line on plot). Understanding the formation of these current sheets and the small-scale structures and dynamics within is important because they are thought to be important in the processes that initiate magnetic reconnection, which can drive intense space weather in the Earth’s magnetosphere.
Credit
Dr. Bill Amatucci, NRL
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