Response of equatorial ionosphere to episodes of asymmetric ring current activity

We present the characteristics of the response of equatorial ionospheric zonal electric field and F-region plasma density to the asymmetric ring current intensifications that occurred in succession on 16 December 1991, corresponding to the STEP/EITS-2 campaign period. The study is based on high-time-resolution (1-min) data of asymmetic ring current indices, ASY(H/D) and F-region vertical plasma drift, Vz measurements at Kodaikanal (10.25°N; 77.5°E; dip 4°), India and quarter-hourly ionosonde data of For-taleza (4°S; 322°E; dip -9°), Brazil. It is shown that short-lived disturbances in F-layer vertical plasma drift, Vz and height (hF/hpF2) indicative of westward and eastward electric fields prevail simultaneously in the dusk (18–21 LT) and predawn (02–05 LT) sectors, respectively, in association with the decay phase of asymmetic ring current events. Electric fields of opposite polarity do also seem to manifest at these local times, particularly in the early-morning sector in conjunction with the intensification of the asymmetric ring current. At a given location, electric field disturbances associated with individual asymmetric ring current events are thus bipolar in nature, with fields of opposite polarity during the growth and decay phases. The nature and polarity structure of the observed electric field disturbances are in agreement with the theoretical/model predictions of prompt penetration of high-latitude electric fields to the equatorial region.On sabbatical leave from Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India     

波粒相互作用导致环电流质子沉降的卫星共轭观测

波粒相互作用是环电流损失的重要机制之一,但波粒相互作用导致的环电流离子沉降而损失迄今为止缺乏直接的观测证据.基于磁层及电离层卫星的协同观测,本文报道了发生在2015年9月7日,由电磁离子回旋波（EMIC波）导致环电流质子沉降的共轭观测事件.在等离子体层的内边界,Van Allen Probe B卫星观测到,存在EMIC波的区域和不存在EMIC波的区域相比,离子通量的投掷角分布的各向异性变弱.我们将Van Allen Probe B卫星沿着磁力线投影到电离层高度,同时在该投影区域内DMSP 16卫星在亚极光区域观测到环电流质子沉降.而且,通过从理论上计算质子弹跳平均扩散系数,我们进一步证实观测的EMIC波确实能将环电流质子散射到损失锥中.本文的研究工作为EMIC波导致环电流质子沉降提供了直接的观测证据,揭示了环电流衰减的重要物理机制：EMIC波将环电流质子散射到损失锥中,从而沉降到低高度大气层中而损失.

     

The atmospheric electric ring current in the higher atmosphere

Summary The atmospheric electric current flow in the ionosphere was discussed in a qualitative way at the UGGI General Assembly at Berkeley, California in 1963. The following picture emerged: The atmospheric electric fair weather current leaves the earth in a radially outward direction. As it enters the higher regions of the atmosphere and the ionospheric it is increasingly influenced by the earth's magnetic field. Because the main part of the current is crowded into the polar regions, the current density over the equatorial belt is small. A circular movement around the earth's axis results in an overall flow pattern tentatively termed, the atmospheric electric ring current. An attempt to calculate this current flow soon made it clear that the generally used simplification of the one-dimensional case with slanted magnetic field lines is not adequate—not even as a first approximation. The same is true for the assumption usually made in magnetohydrodynamics that the current follows approximately the magnetic field lines. An essential feature of the atmospheric electric ring current is that in equatorial regions the flow is forced across the magnetic field lines, the component along the lines being zero. A calculation is discussed that treats the magnetic field lines as those of a true dipole field with the corresponding tensor character of conductivity. The results of the calculation are presented as graphs of the density distribution of the ring current, the space charge distribution, the current flow, and equipotential lines.

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Zusammenfassung Der luftelektrische Stromfluss in der Ionosphäre ist in qualitativer Weise während der UGGI Tagung in Berkeley California, 1963 diskutiert worden. Hierbei hat sich das folgende Bild ergeben: Der luftelektrische Schönwetterstrom fliesst von der Erdoberfläche nach ausswärts in radialer Richtung. Sobald er in die höheren Atmosphärenschichten und dann in die Ionosphäre kommt wird er in zunehmendem Masse vom erdmagnetischen Feld beeinflusst. Der Hauptteil des Stromes wird in die Polarzonen abgedrängt, wodurch die Stromdichte über dem Äquatorgürtel verhältnismässig klein wird. Zu gleicher Zeit wird eine kreisförmige Bewegung um die Erdachse ausgelöst, was ein Strombild ergibt, das versuchsweise der luftelektrische Ringstrom genannt wird.—Bei der Berechnung dieses Stromflusses ergab sich bald, dass die allgemein üblichen Vereinfachungen des eindimensionalen Falles mit homogenem, schräg einfallendem Magnetfeld nicht brauchbar sind, nicht einmal in erster Näherung. Dasselbe gilt für die Annahme, die gewöhnlich in der Magnetohydrodynamik gemacht wird, nämlich dass der Stromfluss angenähert dem magnetischen Felde folgt. Eine wichtige Eigenschaft des luftelektrischen Ringstromes ist es, dass der Strom über dem Äquatorgürtel gezwungen ist quer über die magnetischen Feldlinien zu fliessen, wobei die Stromkomponente in Richtung der Feldlinien gleich 0 ist. In der hier durchgeführten Rechnung wird das magnetische Feld als wahres Dipolfeld behandelt mit dem einer solchen Feldverteilung entsprechenden Tensorcharakter der Leitfähigkeit. Die Ergebnisse der Rechnung werden an Hand von graphischen darstellungen der Ringstrom- und Raumladungsdichte und der Strom- und Äquipotentiallinien diskutiert.

     

Outstanding issues of ring current dynamics

The terrestrial ring current consists of energetic charged particles flowing toroidally around the Earth, and creating a ring of westward electric current, centered at the equatorial plane and extending from geocentric distances of about 3–8R_E. Changes in this current are responsible for global decreases in the Earth's surface magnetic field, which is the defining feature of geomagnetic storms. The ring current is a critical element in understanding the onset and development of space weather disturbances in geospace. This review paper discusses recent developments in ring current research, and outlines the presently hottest issues, most of which were addressed at the Ring Current Symposium of the First S-RAMP Conference held in Sapporo, Japan, in October 2000.     

Ground magnetic characteristics of the storm-time ring current Asymmetry

Using the minute data of the H component of geomagnetic field from the 20°E magnetic meridian chain and the 30°N magnetic latitudinal chain, the temporal evolution characteristics of the equatorial ring current during the storm on November 7-10, 2004 are studied. It is indicated that the UT-MLT and UT-MLAT graphics extremely exhibit the local time distribution, latitudinal variation and temporal evo- lution of the H component. The results show: (1) The UT-MLT contour clearly shows the increasing of the H component mostly around noon during the initial phase, representing the geomagnetic effect from the magnetopause current system. During the main phase, most negative values of the H com- ponent appear around the dusk-side, indicating the dawn-dusk asymmetric distribution of the ring cur- rent. (2) The contour of UT-MLAT suggests the latitudinal variation of the H component decreasing with the enhancement of the latitudes during geomagnetic storm, which is in good agreement with the Dst index. The latitudinal variations provide a new sight for describing the temporal characteristics of the intensity of the storm-time ring current. (3) Both the contours of UT-MLT and UT-MLAT are useful to monitor the space-time distribution of the equatorial ring current.     

Modeling the partial ring current effect in a disturbed magnetosphere

The mathematical model of the magnetic field of the partial ring current has been proposed. This current is considered as a pair of spatial current circuits in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, either of which includes two ring zones, in the geomagnetic equator plane and ionosphere, and two zones of the field-aligned current, flowing along the geomagnetic dipole field lines and joining ring fragments of the circuit. The model parameters are: colatitude of the eastward electrojet, longitudinal shift relative to the Sun-Earth axis, circuit half-angle, and the total current flowing in the circuit. The Biot-Savart-Laplace law has been used to calculate the magnetic field of the current circuit. The magnetic field of the partial ring current has been calculated under the conditions typical of a strong magnetic storm. The technique for calculating the partial ring current intensity, using the Asym-H geomagnetic index, has been proposed.     

On the asymmetric diurnal tide

Summary The response of the atmosphere to a diurnally oscillating thermal drive, asymmetric with respect to the equator, is investigated. It is found that the solutions ofLaplace's tidal equation do not form a complete set; all of them being orthogonal to the associated Legendre polynomial,P ₂ ¹ (cos ), being the latitude. As an extension ofLaplace's theorem for gravitationally excited ocean tides to thermally driven atmospheric tides, it is shown that a diurnal drive whose latitude dependence is given byP ₂ ¹ gives rise to no surface pressure oscillation.     

On the possible role of cusp/cleft precipitation in the formation of polar-cap patches

The work describes experimental observations of enhancements in the electron density of the ionospheric F-region created by cusp/cleft particle precipitation at the dayside entry to the polar-cap convection flow. Measurements by meridian scanning photometer and all-sky camera of optical red-line emissions from aurora are used to identify latitudinally narrow bands of soft-particle precipitation responsible for structured enhancements in electron density determined from images obtained by radio tomography. Two examples are discussed in which the electron density features with size scales and magnitudes commensurate with those of patches are shown to be formed by precipitation at the entry region to the anti-sunward flow. In one case the spectrum of the incoming particles results in ionisation being created, for the most part below 250 km, so that the patch will persist only for minutes after convecting away from the auroral source region. However in a second example, at a time when the plasma density of the solar wind was particularly high, a substantial part of the particle-induced enhancement formed above 250 km. It is suggested that, with the reduced recombination loss in the upper F-region, this structure will retain form as a patch during passage in the anti-sunward flow across the polar cap.     

Depression in the low-latitude horizontal intensity due to quiet-time ring current

Summary The external field due to plasma within the magnetosphere has been computed as a function ofA _p, which is a measure of solar wind velocity, for very quiet to slightly disturbed conditions using mean daily horizontal intensity from 1932 to 1968 at Alibag. The intensity, corrected for secular change and reduced to a common epoch, showed initially a small increase withA _p followed by a steady depression with further increase in the index. ForA _p7.5, which is representative of conditions over the 33-hour interval during which data relating to low-energy protons were acquired and used byHoffman andBracken [4]²) to compute current distributions, the decrease, computed here from surface data, is 6 . This is in goodagreement with the southward directed field of the quiet-time proton belt 9±5 obtained byHoffman andBracken.     

Effects of substorms on the stormtime ring current index Dst

There has been some discussion in recent times regarding whether or not substorm expansive phase activity plays any role of importance in the formation of the stormtime ring current. I explore this question using the K_p index as a proxy for substorm expansive phase activity and the D_st index as a proxy for symmetric ring current strength. I find that increases in D_st are mildly related to the strength of substorm expansive phase activity during the development of the storm main phase. More surprisingly, I find that the strength of D_st during the storm recovery phase is positively correlated with the strength of substorm expansive phase activity. This result has an important bearing on the question of how much the Dst index reflects activity other than that of the stormtime symmetric ring current strength for which it is supposed to be a proxy.     

Diamond formation in metal–carbonate interactions

Reduced silicon alloyed with Fe metal was shown to chemically react with FeCO₃ siderite at pressures of 10–25 GPa and temperatures of 1700–1800 °C according to2 FeCO_{3 siderite}+3 Si _{in metal}=2 Fe _{in metal}+3 SiO2 stishovite+2 C_diamondSince no carbon seeds were introduced, the only source of carbon for diamond formation was the carbonate phase. This observation provides a mechanism of diamond formation, possibly relevant to the early Earth. Thermodynamic modelling of the observed reactions shows that the stishovite/silicon oxygen fugacity buffer is far more reducing than the carbonate/diamond equilibrium, implying that, at Earth mantle conditions, no silicon-bearing metal can coexist with carbonates. Diamond formation by reactions between carbonates and highly reducing metal phases containing significant amounts of silicon might have occurred in the early Earth upon mixing of oxidized and reduced accretion components at pressures and temperature exceeding 10 GPa and 1700 °C.     

On the dynamic properties of asymmetric wall-frame structures

An efficient approximate hand method is proposed for the evaluation of the dynamic properties of asymmetric wall-frame structures. The approximation is based on a two-degree-of-freedom zeroth order solution of the coupled differential equations of motion. The restrictions on the structural geometry of the building imposed in a previous paper¹ are relaxed and the accuracy of the approximation is made dependent on the similarity between the mode shapes of the uncoupled lateral and torsional systems.     

磁暴环电流衰减率对磁层能量状态的影响

赤道环电流是引起磁暴扰动的主要电流体系,环电流衰减速率极大地影响着磁层能量收支估计和磁暴预报.本文提出评价环电流衰减率的两条新指标;（1）E指标（磁暴事件总能量收支平衡指标）,即磁暴全过程的积分能量收支平衡;（2）L指标（长期总能量收支平衡指标）,即几年、十几年或更长时段内积分能量收支平衡.我们用1998~2003年44个磁暴事件以及第23太阳周（1998~2008年）11年的连续资料,分别检验了几类衰减率模型对上述两条指标符合的情况.结果表明,PA1978和XD2010两类模型对E指标符合得最好,即无论磁暴强弱,它们均显示出事件总能量收支平衡的基本特征;同时,这两类模型与L指标符合得也最好,即它们的长期积分能量基本平衡,而且磁暴期间的能量消耗表现出明显增强的重要特征.     

基于地磁台站数据对磁暴期间环电流和场向电流的分布特征研究

磁暴的发生与环电流的变化密切相关.除了对称环电流外,部分环电流在磁暴的发展过程中也起到了重要的作用,同时部分环电流通过场向电流与极区电离层中的电流形成回路.本文应用INTERMAGNET地磁台网北半球中低纬区域地磁台站数据,对不同强度4个磁暴事件主相和恢复相期间部分环电流和场向电流的磁地方时分布进行了分析和讨论.对于每一个磁暴事件,在低纬地区（地磁纬度约0°—40°N）选用地磁经度上大致均匀的8个台站,通过坐标转换计算平行于磁偶极轴的地磁场水平分量H来分析磁暴期间环电流所引起的磁场扰动;在低纬地区8个台站的基础上增加中纬地区（地磁纬度约40°N—60°N）地磁经度上大致均匀的6个台站,计算地磁坐标系下地磁场东西分量Y来分析磁暴期间场向电流在中低纬地区引起的磁场扰动.结果表明,磁暴主相期间的部分环电流主要作用于磁地方时昏侧和夜侧扇区,并且主相和恢复相期间部分环电流引起的磁场变化随着磁暴级别的增大而增大;磁暴主相期间向下的场向电流多出现在夜侧至晨侧扇区,向上的场向电流多出现在昏侧至午后扇区,且中纬地区向下和向上场向电流的展布范围明显大于低纬地区;恢复相期间弱、中磁暴事件的场向电流呈现与部分环电流相同的减弱趋势,而强、大磁暴事件在恢复相末期场向电流引起的磁场变化明显不同于恢复相的其他时刻,这可能与高纬较强的亚暴活动有关.

     

Ionospheric storm effects in the nighttime E region caused by neutralized ring current particles

During magnetic storms an anomalous increase in the ionization density of the nighttime E region is observed at low and middle latitudes. It has been suggested that this effect is caused by the precipitation of neutralized ring current particles. Here a coupled ring current decay-ionosphere model is used to confirm the validity of this explanation.     

Concerning the generation of geomagnetic giant pulsations by drift-bounce resonance ring current instabilities

Giant pulsations are nearly monochromatic ULF-pulsations of the Earth’s magnetic field with periods of about 100 s and amplitudes of up to 40 nT. For one such event ground-magnetic observations as well as simultaneous GEOS-2 magnetic and electric field data and proton flux measurements made in the geostationary orbit have been analysed. The observations of the electromagnetic field indicate the excitation of an odd-mode type fundamental field line oscillation. A clear correlation between variations of the proton flux in the energy range 30–90 keV with the giant pulsation event observed at the ground is found. Furthermore, the proton phase space density exhibits a bump-on-the-tail signature at about 60 keV. Assuming a drift-bounce resonance instability as a possible generation mechanism, the azimuthal wave number of the pulsation wave field may be determined using a generalized resonance condition. The value determined in this way, m = −21±4, is in accord with the value m = −27±6 determined from ground-magnetic measurements. A more detailed examination of the observed ring current plasma distribution function f shows that odd-mode type eigenoscillations are expected for the case ∂f/∂W ≥ 0, much as observed. This result is different from previous theoretical studies as we not only consider local gradients of the distribution function in real space, but also in velocity space. It is therefore concluded that the observed giant pulsation is the result of a drift-bounce resonance instability of the ring current plasma coupling to an odd-mode fundamental standing wave. The generation of the bump-on-the-tail distribution causing ≥f/≥W ≥ 0 can be explained due to velocity dispersion of protons injected into the ring current. Both this velocity dispersion and the necessary substorm activity causing the injection of protons into the nightside magnetosphere are observed.     

非对称圆弧片状声源在井旁地层中产生的声场

提出了一种可用于随钻三维反射声波成像测井的圆弧片状声源,推导了该声源声学性质在波数-频率域内的数学描述,并利用实轴积分的方法对该声源在井旁地层中产生的声场进行求解,考察了声源的线度、频率等因素对该声源向地层中辐射的声场的影响.研究结果表明,特定尺寸和特定频率下的圆弧片状声源产生的纵波场的水平和垂直指向性图中仅具有一个明显的主瓣,且主瓣三分贝角宽较窄,方位分辨率较高,指向性良好,适用于随钻三维反射成像测井;SV波场和SH波场的指向性图中存在两个或者多个角瓣,SV波场在垂直于井轴方向上辐射的能量为0,另外在井中发射和接收的反射SH波场和SV波场会相互干扰,所以难以利用SV波场和SH波场进行三维反射声波成像;声源的线度和频率等因素对其辐射声场影响较大,考虑到激励效率和方位分辨率等因素,对于本文描述的井孔模型,选择圆周角在75°和90°之间, 主频为12 kHz左右的声源是合适的.     

Geomagnetic cutoff rigidities of cosmic rays in a model of the bounded magnetosphere with the ring current

The cosmic ray geomagnetic cutoff rigidities are obtained by analytical calculations within an axisymmetric model of bounded magnetosphere, the magnetic field of which is created by the dipole field of the Earth and by two spheres located beyond the Earth with the currents that flow along the parallels and have a value proportional to the cosine of latitude. The inner sphere models the ring current flowing in the westerly direction; the outer sphere simulates the currents over the magnetopause, which flow in the easterly direction. The analytical results of calculations of variations in the geomagnetic cutoff rigidity for different levels of geomagnetic disturbances are given. The results are compared with the results of analytical calculations within the model of unbounded magnetosphere (when the outer sphere is absent).