Study on the local time asymmetry of the Earth's ring currents based on multiple low-Earth-orbit satellite magnetic observations

The azimuthal morphology of Earth's ring currents has consistently shown asymmetry during extreme space weather events at low latitudes, particularly during geomagnetic storms. A dawn-dusk pattern has been detected during the storm main phase through near-Earth and in-situ magnetic measurements. This asymmetry is believed to arise from asymmetric solar wind-magnetosphere coupling and is linked to the closure of the ring current. Recent evidence has confirmed the existence of asymmetric ring currents during quiet times and the storm recovery phase. This phenomenon may be closely related to the evolution of ring currents, including plasma injection and decay processes. In this study, the local time asymmetry of the ring current is estimated using data from low-Earth-orbit Swarm and Macao Science Satellite-1 (MSS-1) missions. Spherical harmonics models are developed to quantify the magnetic field of ring currents through external Gauss coefficients during both quiet periods and the storm recovery phase. Several features of dawn-dusk asymmetry are observed in various cases in different months. (1) The maximum difference in magnetic value across local time ranges from 3 to 10 nT, showing relative invariance compared with various Sym-H levels. (2) Stronger magnetic signals are detected at the premidnight sector during quiet times and at the afternoon sector during the storm recovery phase. (3) Magnetic perturbations remain at a lower level during the post-midnight and morning sectors. Although the pattern of local time asymmetry differs between quiet times and the recovery phase, dawn-dusk asymmetry remains the most pronounced feature, affecting the trapping and loss of charged particles in the inner magnetosphere. Combining Swarm and MSS-1 magnetic observations can enable convenient monitoring of the detailed azimuthal local time effects of the ring current at various disturbance levels in the future.