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In situ multi-satellite detection of coherent vortices as a manifestation of Alfvénic turbulence

Nature volume 436, pages 825–828 (2005)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 08 September 2005

Abstract

Turbulence in fluids1 and plasmas2,3,4,5 is a ubiquitous phenomenon driven by a variety of sources—currents, sheared flows, gradients in density and temperature, and so on. Turbulence involves fluctuations of physical properties on many different scales, which interact nonlinearly to produce self-organized structures in the form of vortices2,3,4,5. Vortex motion in fluids and magnetized plasmas is typically governed by nonlinear equations2,3,4,5, examples of which include the Navier–Stokes equation1,2, the Charney–Hasegawa–Mima equations2,3,4,5 and their numerous generalizations6,7,8,9. These nonlinear equations admit solutions2,3,4,5 in the form of different types of vortices that are frequently observed in a variety of contexts: in atmospheres, in oceans and planetary systems2,4, in the heliosphere10,11, in the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere12,13,14,15,16,17, and in laboratory plasma experiments18. Here we report the discovery by the Cluster satellites19 of a distinct class of vortex motion—short-scale drift-kinetic Alfvén (DKA) vortices8,9—in the Earth's magnetospheric cusp region. As is the case for the larger Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices observed previously17, these dynamic structures should provide a channel for transporting plasma particles and energy through the magnetospheric boundary layers.

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Figure 1: Location of the Cluster spacecraft and the Earth's magnetic field lines.
Figure 2: Proton flux, density and low frequency fields for a cusp passage.
Figure 3: Magnetic field data from the Cluster satellites.
Figure 4: Analytical DKA vortex solution and a vortex model for the turbulence in the cusp.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the FGM, EFW and CIS Cluster instrument teams for supplying data for this study. Gratitude goes to T. D. de Wit for his help with the wavelet calculations. The research of D.S., V.K. and P.K.S. was partially supported by the European Commission. The research of A.V. was supported by the Swedish Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement, CNRS, 45071, Orléans, France

    David Sundkvist & Vladimir Krasnoselskikh

  2. Swedish Institute of Space Physics, SE-751 21, Uppsala, Sweden

    David Sundkvist, Andris Vaivads, Mats André & Stephan Buchert

  3. Institut für Theoretische Physik IV, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780, Bochum, Germany

    Padma K. Shukla

  4. Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, 31029, Toulouse, France

    Henri Rème

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Correspondence to David Sundkvist.

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Sundkvist, D., Krasnoselskikh, V., Shukla, P. et al. In situ multi-satellite detection of coherent vortices as a manifestation of Alfvénic turbulence. Nature 436, 825–828 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03931

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