The structure and dynamics of the plasmasphere are highly
sensitive to the geomagnetic disturbance activity that occurs regularly within
the Earth's magnetosphere. The cycles of erosion and refilling of the plasma
population in the plasmasphere have been studied extensively in the past but
from the relatively limited perspective of individual (or occasionally multiple)
ground stations and satellite crossings of the plasmapause and plasmasphere.
Data available from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUV) on the IMAGE satellite
allow us, for the first time, to study the plasmasphere system from a global
perspective. The EUV instrument images the He+ distribution in the plasmasphere
by detecting resonantly scattered solar 30.4-nm radiation and produces images
encompassing the entire plasmasphere with approximately 640 km spatial resolution
once every 10 minutes. By tracking the location of the plasmapause in sequences
of EUV images, we make quantitative measurements of radial and azimuthal
motions of the boundary during the various phases of geomagnetic disturbances.
We examine the rapid inward motion of the plasmapause boundary on the nightside
as well as the sunward motion on the dayside which occurs at the onset of
a disturbance. After several hours of continued enhanced activity, a plasmaspheric
``plume'' forms in the afternoon local time sector as a result of the interplay
between forces driving the plasma sunward and those which tend to force the
plasmasphere to rotate with the Earth. We also note the tendency for mesoscale
azimuthal variations (< 1 RE in radial extent and < 30 degrees in azimuthal
extent) in the plasmapause radius to develop in a limited local time sector
on the dayside during these active periods. In the aftermath of a disturbance,
we follow the evolution of the plasmaspheric plumes and the degree to which
they begin to corotate with the Earth. These disturbances represent periods
of significant redistribution of mass within the magnetosphere, and using
the global images, we estimate that 50 to 100 metric tons of material, constituting
between 25 % and 45 % of the initial plasmaspheric distribution, is removed
from a volume extending from 1.5 to 5.5 RE in a period of 15 hours or less.
Finally, we identify an association between the plasmaspheric plume and energetic
protons precipitating into the subauroral ionosphere. During a geomagnetic
disturbance on June 18, 2001, a detached subauroral proton arc mapped along
geomagnetic field lines to a broad region of enhanced cold plasma density
associated with the plasmaspheric plume. The link between the proton
arc and plasmaspheric plume suggests that the proton precipitation may be
a result of wave-particle interactions which preferentially occur within
the plume region.
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