Time and Place: 3:00 am, Aug. 21, 2014. A1101, JiuZhang Building, the National Space Science Center.

Lecture: Pro. Jichun Zhang from the Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, USA

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Understanding ion injection into the inner magnetosphere is a critical part of understanding the physical dynamics of the Earth’s magnetosphere. Ions in the inner magnetosphere interact with the magnetic and electric fields, which can affect the radiation belt environment and its variability. Nose structures, often observed by spacecraft in the Earth’s inner magnetosphere, are important observational signatures of ion injection. These structures, named after “nose-like” features in the ion energy-time spectrograms, are a key indicator of the degree to which ions are able to penetrate into the inner magnetosphere. Quantitative understanding of how these structures are generated will provide insight into the dynamic processes operating in the inner magnetosphere, including time-dependent particle injections and electric fields. The observed features of nose structures also constitute a test ground for inner-magnetospheric theories and modeling. In the talk, I will present our recent results about nose in-situ observations and numerical simulations.