Statistical study of plasmaspheric plumes

Masson Arnaud Laakso


Plasmaspheric plumes are regions of plasmaspheric plasma, attached to the main
body of the plasmasphere, but stretching outward into the more tenuous outer
magnetosphere.

A recent case study has reported, during a strong magnetic storm, a direct
relationship between plasmaspheric tails and sub-auroral ionospheric
perturbations responsible of strong radio scintillation. Scintillation can
dramatically impact the performance of spacebased communication and navigation
systems, including: GPS positioning, signal fading and data drop-outs on
satellite command uplinks, data downlinks and communication signals.

Polar satellite, Cluster satellites and the EUV imager of the IMAGE satellite
provide a unique set of observations of both in-situ and remote observations of
plasmaspheric plumes.

Here, we present the results of a statistical analysis on the location, density
and shape of plasmaspheric plumes observed in the dusk sector depending on the
geomagnetic activity.

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Presented at the 28th URSI General Assembly, New Delhi, India, 
23 - 29 October, 2005