Rice Convection Model simulation of the 18 April 2002 sawtooth event and evidence for interchange instability

We present the results of a Rice Convection Model (RCM) simulation of the 18 April 2002 sawtooth event. This event occurred as a series of quasi‐periodic substorms during fairly stable solar wind conditions. It is modeled by (1) prescribing a solar‐wind‐driven magnetic field model (T01_s) augmented by additional current loops representing the magnetic effects of the substorm current wedge and (2) by carefully specifying a substorm‐phase‐dependent plasma distribution at the RCM outer boundary at 8 Re such that a hot and attenuated plasma distribution is used after every substorm onset. The set of input parameters was adjusted to make the simulation results agree with the primary signatures of the sawtooth event, specifically the sequence of magnetic field stretching and dipolarization observed by the GOES spacecraft and the associated sharp increases and gradual decreases in the flux of energetic protons measured by the LANL/Synchronous Orbit Plasma Analyzer (SOPA) instruments on other geosynchronous spacecrafts. The results suggest the important role that higher temperature and lower density plasma‐sheet plasma plays in producing flux enhancements at geosynchronous orbit. The results also confirm that induction electric fields associated with magnetic field collapse after substorm onsets can serve as a likely mechanism for the energization of particles up to 25 keV. Synthetic high‐energy neutral atom images are compared with IMAGE/HENA measurements for 10–60 keV hydrogen atoms. Magnetic field dipolarization over a large range of local time resulted in a dramatic reduction in the plasma entropy parameter PV5/3 on the boundary. The simulation indicates that the ring current intensified 10–20 minutes after every onset, associated with the injection of low PV5/3 flux tubes through the boundary. The low PV5/3 plasma also produced an interchange convection in the inner magnetosphere, which drives Birkeland currents in a quasi‐periodic upward‐downward pattern with a lifetime of 40–60 minutes and spatial extent of 1.5–2.0 hours. The results suggest that the spatial quasi‐periodic and nearly north–south‐aligned auroral arcs observed by an IMAGE/FUV WIC detector might be caused by interchange instability.