Date: 09 Feb 2007
Satellite: Cluster
Depicts: Plot of Cluster locations and plasma sheet regions
Copyright: Prof. Göran Marklund, Alfvén Laboratory, Stockholm, Sweden

Locations of four auroral oval crossings by the Cluster spacecraft projecting down to the ionosphere with respect to nightside auroral plasma boundaries. In this projection the Earth is viewed from above the North pole and polar cap, the Sun is located at the top of the image.

Events 1 and 2 from early 2001 were both located at the boundary between the Central Plasma Sheet (CPS, in green) and the Plasma Sheet Boundary Layer (PSBL, in blue).

Events 3 and 4 in 2002 were found at the boundary between the PSBL and the polar cap.

Image courtesy of Prof. Göran Marklund, Alfvén Laboratory, Stockholm, Sweden, from [Marklund et al., 2004].