Counter equatorial electrojet and overshielding after substorm onset: Global MHD simulation study

Abstract

By performing a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation, we have demonstrated for the first time that an electrojet at the dayside magnetic equator can be reversed and an overshielding condition can be established in the inner magnetosphere after substorm onset without northward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field. Near the substorm onset, the plasma pressure is highly enhanced in the inner magnetosphere on the nightside. The Region 2 field-aligned current diverges from the diamagnetic current on the surface of the dayside extension of the high-pressure region, which is connected to the ionosphere in the relatively low-conductivity region a few degrees equatorward of the main auroral oval that is formed as the projection of the plasma sheet. The separation of the equatorward boundary of the auroral region and the equatorward boundary of the Region 2 current results in dusk-dawn electric fields that generate a counter electrojet (CEJ) at the dayside magnetic equator. Poleward electric fields in a narrow latitudinal width, which may be regarded as subauroral ion drift and subauroral polarization stream, are simultaneously intensified. The dusk-dawn electric fields may propagate to the inner magnetosphere along a field line as shear Alfvén waves. Then, the inner magnetosphere is completely constrained by the overshielding condition. The intensity and polarity of the CEJ depend largely on at least the ionospheric conductivity that is related to the plasma pressure (probably associated with diffuse aurora). This may explain the observational fact that overshielding does not always occur after onset.