Modeling the transition of the inner plasma sheet from weak to enhanced convection

[1] We seek to determine whether the adiabatic plasma transport and energization resulting from electric and magnetic drift can quantitatively account for the plasma sheet under weak and enhanced convection observed by Geotail presented in the companion paper [Wang et al., 2004]. We use a modified Magnetospheric Specification Model to simulate the dynamics and distributions of protons originating from the deep tail and low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) under an assigned, slowly increasing convection electric field. The magnetic field is Tsyganenko 96 model, modified so that force balance is maintained along the midnight meridian. Our simulation results reproduce well the observed radial profiles and magnitudes of pressure and magnetic field. The changes of these parameters with convection strength are also well reproduced, indicating that the electric and magnetic drift control the large-scale structure of the plasma sheet. The plasma flows near midnight are diverted toward dusk by diamagnetic drift. We obtain a steady state plasma sheet under strong and steady convection, showing that magnetic drift and field line stretching bring the plasma sheet away from possible convection disruption. The protons from the LLBL strongly affect the plasma sheet density and temperature during quiet times but not during enhanced convection. For the same cross–polar cap potential, stronger shielding of the convection electric field results in smaller energization. The penetration electric field is important in moving the plasma sheet to smaller geocentric radial distance. Our results suggest that the frozen-in condition E = v B is not valid in the inner plasma sheet because of strong diamagnetic drift.