Large electric fields in the magnetosphere

Abstract

The Langmuir solitonlike structures which contain plasma frequency oscillations of 500 mV/m and parallel electric fields of about 100 mV/m, observed in the auroral zone below 1000 km, are studied. The characteristics of electrostatic shocks that contain perpendicular fields of 1000 mV/m and parallel fields of 100 mV/m, and of double layers that have parallel fields of 10 mV/m are described. Observations of the geomagnetic tail reveal the presence of 100 mV/m turbulent electric fields and 5-10 mV/m quasi-static fields in the high latitude boundary of the plasma sheet, and inside the plasma sheet fields of 5-10 mV/m are detected. The large amplitude quasi-static electric field fluctuations of 100 mV/m and the dc fields of approximately 5 mV/m observed in the bow shock are examined.