Magnetopause boundary structure deduced from the high-time resolution particle experiment on the Equator-S spacecraft

An electrostatic analyser (ESA) onboard the Equator-S spacecraft operating in coordination with a potential control device (PCD) has obtained the first accurate electron energy spectrum with energies &7 eV-100 eV in the vicinity of the magnetopause. On 8 January, 1998, a solar wind pressure increase pushed the magnetopause inward, leaving the Equator-S spacecraft in the magnetosheath. On the return into the magnetosphere approximately 80 min later, the magnetopause was observed by the ESA and the solid state telescopes (the SSTs detected electrons and ions with energies &20–300 keV). The high time resolution (3 s) data from ESA and SST show the boundary region contains of multiple plasma sources that appear to evolve in space and time. We show that electrons with energies &7 eV–100 eV permeate the outer regions of the magnetosphere, from the magnetopause to &6Re. Pitch-angle distributions of &20–300 keV electrons show the electrons travel in both directions along the magnetic field with a peak at 90° indicating a trapped configuration. The IMF during this interval was dominated by Bx and By components with a small Bz.     

Identification of magnetosheath mirror modes in Equator-S magnetic field data

Between December 1997 and March 1998 Equator-S made a number of excursions into the dawn-side magnetosheath, over a range of local times between 6:00 and 10:40 LT. Clear mirror-like structures, characterised by compressive fluctuations in |B| on occasion lasting for up to 5 h, were observed during a significant fraction of these orbits. During most of these passes the satellite appeared to remain close to the magnetopause (within 1–2 Re), during sustained compressions of the magnetosphere, and so the characteristics of the mirror structures are used as a diagnostic of magnetosheath structure close to the magnetopause during these orbits. It is found that in the majority of cases mirror-like activity persists, undamped, to within a few minutes of the magnetopause, with no observable ramp in |B|, irrespective of the magnetic shear across the boundary. This suggests that any plasma depletion layer is typically of narrow extent or absent at the location of the satellite, at least during the subset of orbits containing strong magnetosheath mirror-mode signatures. Power spectra for the mirror signatures show predominately field aligned power, a well defined shoulder at around 3–10 × 10⁻² Hz and decreasing power at higher frequencies. On occasions the fluctuations are more sinusoidal, leading to peaked spectra instead of a shoulder. In all cases mirror structures are found to lie approximately parallel to the observed magnetopause boundary. There is some indication that the amplitude of the compressional fluctuations tends to be greater closer to the magnetopause. This has not been previously reported in the Earth’s magnetosphere, but has been suggested in the case of other planets.     

Spatial distribution of conductances and currents associated with a north-south auroral form during a multiple-substorm period

Using the method of characteristics to invert ground-based data of the ground magnetic field disturbance and of the ionospheric electric field, we obtain spatial distributions of ionospheric conductances, currents, and field-aligned currents (FACs) associated with a north-south auroral form that drifts westwards over northern Scandinavia around 2200 UT on December 2, 1977. This auroral form is one in a sequence of such north-south structures observed by all-sky cameras, and appears 14 min after the last of several breakups during that extremely disturbed night. Our analysis shows that the ionospheric Hall conductance reaches values above 200 S in the center of the form, and upward flowing FACs of up to 25 μA/m² are concentrated near its westward and equatorward edge. The strong upward flowing FACs are fed by an area of more distributed, but still very strong downward-flowing FACs northeastward of the auroral form. In contrast to the conductances, the electric field is only slightly affected by the passage of the form. We point out similarities and differences of our observations and results to previously reported observations and models of ‘auroral fingers’, ‘north-south aurora’, and ‘auroral streamers’ which are suggested to be ionospheric manifestations of bursty bulk flows in the plasma sheet.     

The magnetic field experiment onboard Equator-S and its scientific possibilities

The special feature of the ringcore fluxgate magnetometer on Equator-S is the high time and field resolution. The scientific aim of the experiment is the investigation of waves in the 10–100 picotesla range with a time resolution up to 64 Hz. The instrument characteristics and the influence of the spacecraft on the magnetic field measurement will be discussed. The work shows that the applied pre- and inflight calibration techniques are sufficient to suppress spacecraft interferences. The offset in spin axis direction was determined for the first time with an independent field measurement by the Equator-S Electron Drift Instrument. The data presented gives an impression of the accuracy of the measurement.     

Observations of the response time of high-latitude ionospheric convection to variations in the interplanetary magnetic field using EISCAT and IMP-8 data

We have combined ∼300 h of tristatic measurements of the field-perpendicular F region ionospheric flow measured overhead at Tromsø by the EISCAT UHF radar, with simultaneous IMP-8 measurements of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) upstream of the Earth’s magnetosphere, in order to examine the response time of the ionospheric flow to changes in the north-south component of the IMF (B_z). In calculating the flow response delay, the time taken by field changes observed by the spacecraft to first effect the ionosphere has been carefully estimated and subtracted from the response time. Two analysis methods have been employed. In the first, the flow data were divided into 2 h-intervals of magnetic local time (MLT) and cross-correlated with the “half-wave rectifier” function V²B_s, where V is the solar wind speed, and B_s is equal to IMF B_z if the latter is negative, and is zero otherwise. Response delays, determined from the time lag of the peak value of the cross-correlation coefficient, were computed versus MLT for both the east-west and north-south components of flow. The combined data set suggests minimum delays at ∼1400 MLT, with increased response times on the nightside. For the 12-h sector centred on 1400 MLT, the weighted average response delay was found to be 1.3 ± 0.8 min, while for the 12-h sector centred on 0200 MLT the weighted average delay was found to increase to 8.8 ± 1.7 min. In the second method we first inspected the IMF data for sharp and enduring (at least ∼5 min) changes in polarity of the north-south component, and then examined concurrent EISCAT flow data to determine the onset time of the corresponding enhancement or decay of the flow. For the case in which the flow response was timed from whichever of the flow components responded first, minimum response delays were again found at ∼1400 MLT, with average delays of 4.8 ± 0.5 min for the 12-h sector centred on 1400 MLT, increasing to 9.2 ± 0.8 min on the nightside. The response delay is thus found to be reasonably small at all local times, but typically ∼6 min longer on the nightside compared with the dayside. In order to make an estimate of the ionospheric information propagation speed implied by these results, we have fitted a simple theoretical curve to the delay data which assumes that information concerning the excitation and decay of flow propagates with constant speed away from some point on the equatorward edge of the dayside open-closed field line boundary, taken to lie at 77° magnetic latitude. For the combined cross-correlation results the best-fit epicentre of information propagation was found to be at 1400 MLT, with an information propagation phase speed of 9.0 km s⁻¹. For the combined event analysis, the best-fit epicentre was also found to be located at 1400 MLT, with a phase speed of 6.8 km s⁻¹.     

Possible role of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling in auroral arc generation

Three models for the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling feedback instability are considered. The first model is based on demagnetization of hot ions in the plasma sheet. The instability takes place in the global magnetosphere-ionosphere system when magnetospheric electrons drift through a spatial gradient of hot magnetospheric ion population. Such a situation exists on the inner and outer edges of the plasma sheet where relatively cold magnetospheric electrons move earthward through a radial gradient of hot ions. This leads to the formation of field-aligned currents. The effect of upward field-aligned current on particle precipitation and the magnitude of ionospheric conductivity leads to the instability of this earthward convection and to its division into convection streams oriented at some angle with respect to the initial convection direction. The growth rate of the instability is maximum for structures with sizes less than the ion Larmor radius in the equatorial plane. This may lead to formation of auroral arcs with widths about 10 km. This instability explains many features of such arcs, including their conjugacy in opposite hemispheres. However, it cannot explain the very high growth rates of some auroral arcs and very narrow arcs. For such arcs another type of instability must be considered. In the other two models the instability arises because of the generation of Alfven waves from growing arc-like structures in the ionospheric conductivity. One model is based on the modulation of precipitating electrons by field-aligned currents of the upward moving Alfven wave. The other model takes into consideration the reflection of Alfven waves from a maximum in the Alfven velocity at an altitude of about 3000 km. The growth of structures in both models takes place when the ionization function associated with upward field-aligned current is shifted from the edges of enhanced conductivity structures toward their centers. Such a shift arises because the structures move at a velocity different from the E × B drift. Although both models may work, the growth rate for the model, based on the modulation of the precipitating accelerated electrons, is significantly larger than that of the model based on the Alfven wave reflection. This mechanism is suitable for generation of auroral arcs with widths of about 1 km and less. The growth rate of the instability can be as large as 1 s^-1, and this mechanism enables us to justify the development of auroral arcs only in one ionosphere. It is hardly suitable for excitation of wide and conjugate auroral arcs, but it may be responsible for the formation of small-scale structures inside a wide arc.Polar Geophysical Institute, Apatity, Russia     

A statistical survey of dayside pulsed ionospheric flows as seen by the CUTLASS Finland HF radar

Nearly two years of 2-min resolution data and 7- to 21-s resolution data from the CUTLASS Finland HF radar have undergone Fourier analysis in order to study statistically the occurrence rates and repetition frequencies of pulsed ionospheric flows in the noon-sector high-latitude ionosphere. Pulsed ionospheric flow bursts are believed to be the ionospheric footprint of newly reconnected geomagnetic field lines, which occur during episodes of magnetic flux transfer to the terrestrial magnetosphere - flux transfer events or FTEs. The distribution of pulsed ionospheric flows were found to be well grouped in the radar field of view, and to be in the vicinity of the radar signature of the cusp footprint. Two thirds of the pulsed ionospheric flow intervals included in the statistical study occurred when the interplanetary magnetic field had a southward component, supporting the hypothesis that pulsed ionospheric flows are a reconnection-related phenomenon. The occurrence rate of the pulsed ionospheric flow fluctuation period was independent of the radar scan mode. The statistical results obtained from the radar data are compared to occurrence rates and repetition frequencies of FTEs derived from spacecraft data near the magnetopause reconnection region, and to ground-based optical measurements of poleward moving auroral forms. The distributions obtained by the various instruments in different regions of the magnetosphere were remarkably similar. The radar, therefore, appears to give an unbiased sample of magnetopause activity in its routine observations of the cusp footprint.     

Interhemispheric observations of nightside ionospheric electric fields in response to IMF B z and B y changes and substorm pseudobreakup

HF radar data during equinoctial, small IMF B_y conditions have enabled the ionospheric convection during the substorm growth phase and substorm pseudobreakup to be studied in both hemispheres. This has revealed both conjugate and non-conjugate convection behaviour during the substorm growth phase before and after the pseudobreakup onset. The nightside convection pattern is found to respond promptly to the southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) which impacts on the dusk flank of the magnetosphere due to an inclined phase front in the IMF in the case study presented. The subsequent interhemispheric observations of nightside convection are controlled by the IMF B_y polarity. The time scale for the response to changes in the IMF B_y component is found to be a little longer than for B_z, and the full impact of the IMF B_y is not apparent in the nightside convection until after substorm pseudobreakup has occurred. The pseudobreakup itself is found to result in a transitory suppression in the ionospheric electric field in both hemispheres. This flow suppression is very similar to that observed in HF radar observations of full substorm onset, with the exception of a lack of subsequent poleward expansion.     

Letter to the editor The ionospheric response during an interval of Pc5 ULF wave activity

A preliminary analysis of Pc5, ULF wave activity observed with the IMAGE magnetometer array and the EISCAT UHF radar in the post midnight sector indicates that such waves can be caused by the modulation of the ionospheric conductivity as well as the wave electric field. An observed Pc5 pulsation is divided into three separate intervals based upon the EISCAT data. In the first and third, the Pc5 waves are observed only in the measured electron density between 90 and 112 km and maxima in the electron density at these altitudes are attributed to pulsed precipitation of electrons with energies up to 40 keV which result in the height integrated Hall conductivity being pulsed between 10 and 50 S. In the second interval, the Pc5 wave is observed in the F-region ion temperature, electron density and electron temperature but not in the D and E region electron densities. The analysis suggests that the wave during this interval is a coupled Alfven and compressional mode.     

Combined ESR and EISCAT observations of the dayside polar cap and auroral oval during the May 15, 1997 storm

The high-latitude ionospheric response to a major magnetic storm on May 15, 1997 is studied and different responses in the polar cap and the auroral oval are highlighted. Depletion of the F₂ region electron density occurred in both the polar cap and the auroral zone, but due to different physical processes. The increased recombination rate of O⁺ ions caused by a strong electric field played a crucial role in the auroral zone. The transport effect, however, especially the strong upward ion flow was also of great importance in the dayside polar cap. During the main phase and the beginning of the recovery phase soft particle precipitation in the polar cap showed a clear relation to the dynamic pressure of the solar wind, with a maximum cross-correlation coefficient of 0.63 at a time lag of 5 min.