Hydrogen and helium isotope inner radiation belts in the Earth’s magnetosphere

Radial transport theory for inner radiation zone MeV ions has been extended by combining radial diffusive transport and losses due to Coulomb friction with local generation of D, T and ³He ions from nuclear reactions taking place on the inner edge of the inner radiation zone. Based on interactions between high energy trapped protons and upper atmospheric constituents we have included a nuclear reaction yield D, T and ³He flux source that was numerically derived from a nuclear reaction model code originally developed at the Institute of Nuclear Researches in Moscow, Russia. Magnetospheric transport computations have been made covering the L-shell range L=1.0–1.6. The resulting MeV energy D, T and ³He ion flux distributions show a strong influence of the local nuclear source mechanism on the inner zone energetic D, T and ³He ion content.     

Magnetic Pulsations: Their Sources and Relation to Solar Wind and Geomagnetic Activity

Ultra low frequency (ULF) waves incident on the Earth are produced by processes in the magnetosphere and solar wind. These processes produce a wide variety of ULF hydromagnetic wave types that are classified on the ground as either Pi or Pc pulsations (irregular or continuous). Waves of different frequencies and polarizations originate in different regions of the magnetosphere. The location of the projections of these regions onto the Earth depends on the solar wind dynamic pressure and magnetic field. The occurrence of various waves also depends on conditions in the solar wind and in the magnetosphere. Changes in orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field or an increase in solar wind velocity can have dramatic effects on the type of waves seen at a particular location on the Earth. Similarly, the occurrence of a magnetospheric substorm or magnetic storm will affect which waves are seen. The magnetosphere is a resonant cavity and waveguide for waves that either originate within or propagate through the system. These cavities respond to broadband sources by resonating at discrete frequencies. These cavity modes couple to field line resonances that drive currents in the ionosphere. These currents reradiate the energy as electromagnetic waves that propagate to the ground. Because these ionospheric currents are localized in latitude there are very rapid variations in wave phase at the Earth’s surface. Thus it is almost never correct to assume that plane ULF waves are incident on the Earth from outer space. The properties of ULF waves seen at the ground contain information about the processes that generate them and the regions through which they have propagated. The properties also depend on the conductivity of the Earth underneath the observer. Information about the state of the solar wind and the magnetosphere distributed by the NOAA Space Disturbance Forecast Center can be used to help predict when certain types and frequencies of waves will be observed. The study of ULF waves is a very active field of space research and much has yet to be learned about the processes that generate these waves.     

Multi-spacecraft study of foreshock cavitons upstream of the quasi-parallel bow shock

In this work we perform the first multi-spacecraft analysis of two foreshock cavitons observed by the Cluster spacecraft. We also study the characteristics of their surrounding regions. Foreshock cavitons are a relatively new type of phenomena in the Earth's foreshock. They appear in regions deep inside the foreshock and are therefore always immersed in a sea of ULF waves and suprathermal particles. In the observational data the cavitons appear as simultaneous depressions of interplanetary magnetic field and plasma density. The two cavitons presented here have highly structured interiors and exhibit surface irregularities. They propagate sunwards in the reference frame of the solar wind plasma. Since their velocities are smaller than the solar wind velocity, the cavitons are convected towards the Earth by the solar wind flow. Their sizes are comparable to the size of the Earth. We show that the cavitons are different from other foreshock phenomena, such as cavities. The latter are thought to form by thermal expansion due to the excess of thermal pressure caused by intense flux of suprathermal ions in their interiors. Thermal pressure inside the cavitons is the same as in their surroundings, so they cannot form in this way. The proposed mechanism for the caviton formation includes nonlinear interactions between different types of ULF waves deep inside the foreshock.     

Jovian plasma sheet morphology: particle and field observations by the Galileo spacecraft

We present results from an investigation of the plasma sheet encounter signatures observed in the Jovian magnetosphere by the Energetic Particles Detector (EPD) and Magnetometer (MAG) onboard the Galileo spacecraft. Maxima in ion flux were used to identify over 500 spacecraft encounters with the plasma sheet between radial distances from Jupiter from 20 to 140R_J during the first 25 orbits (4 years of data). Typical signatures of plasma sheet encounters show a characteristic periodicity of either 5 or 10 hours that is attributed to an oscillation in the relative distance between the spacecraft and the plasma sheet that arises from the combination of planetary rotation and offset magnetic and rotational axes. However, the energetic particle and field data also display much variability, including instances of intense fluxes having little to no periodicity that persist for several Jovian rotation periods. Abrupt changes in the mean distance between the plasma sheet and the spacecraft are suggested to account for some of the transitions between typical flux periodicities associated with plasma sheet encounters. Additional changes in the plasma sheet thickness and/or amplitude of the plasma sheet displacement from the location of the spacecraft are required to explain the cases where the periodicity breaks down but fluxes remain high. These changes in plasma sheet characteristics do not display an obvious periodicity; however, the observations suggest that dawn/dusk asymmetries in both the structure of the plasma sheet and the frequency of anomalous plasma sheet encounters are present. Evidence of a thin, well-ordered plasma sheet is found out to 110R_J in the dawn and midnight local time sectors, while the dusk magnetosphere is characterized by a thicker, more disordered plasma sheet and has a potentially more pronounced response to an impulsive trigger. Temporal variations associated with changing solar wind conditions are suggested to account for the anomalous plasma sheet encounters there.     

强烈地磁扰动的危害

本文给出了强烈地磁扰动可能对空间和地面技术系统、人类的生产和生活造成的危害,其中包括地磁扰动的直接危害和由于地磁感应电流造成的危害及伴随的其他空间环境扰动所造成的危害。     

Effect of the IMF B y component on the ionospheric flow overhead at EISCAT: observations and theory

We have analysed a database of 300 h of tristatic ionospheric velocity measurements obtained overhead at Tromsø (66.3° magnetic latitude) by the EISCAT UHF radar system, for the presence of flow effects associated with the y-component of the IMF. Since it is already known that the flow depends upon IMF B_z, a least-squares multivariate analysis has been used to determine the flow dependence on both IMF B_y and B_z simultaneously. It is found that significant flow variations with IMF B_y occur, predominantly in the midnight sector (2100/0300 MLT), but also pre-dusk (1600/1700 MLT), which are directed eastward for IMF B_y positive and westward for IMF B_y negative. The flows are of magnitude 20/30 m s^–1 nT^–1 in the midnight sector, and smaller, 10/20 m s^–1 nT^–1, pre-dusk, and are thus associated with significant changes of flow of order a few hundred m s^–1 over the usual range of IMF B_y of about ±5 nT. At other local times the IMF B_y-related perturbation flows are much smaller, less than 5 m s^–1 nT^–1, and consistent with zero within the uncertainty estimates. We have investigated whether these IMF B_y-dependent flows can be accounted for quantitatively by a theoretical model in which the equatorial flow in the inner magnetosphere is independent of IMF B_y, but where distortions of the magnetospheric magnetic field associated with a penetrating component of the IMF B_y field changes the mapping of the field to the ionosphere, and hence the ionospheric flow. We find that the principal flow perturbation produced by this effect is an east-west flow whose sense is determined by the north-south component of the unperturbed flow. Perturbations in the north-south flow are typically smaller by more than an order of magnitude, and generally negligible in terms of observations. Using equatorial flows which are determined from EISCAT data for zero IMF B_y, to which the corotation flow has been added, the theory predicts the presence of zonal perturbation flows which are generally directed eastward in the Northern Hemisphere for IMF B_y positive and westward for IMF B_y negative at all local times. However, although the day and night effects are therefore similar in principle, the model perturbation flows are much larger on the nightside than on the dayside, as observed, due to the day-night asymmetry in the unperturbed magnetospheric magnetic field. Overall, the model results are found to account well for the observed IMF B_y-related flow perturbations in the midnight sector, in terms of the sense and direction of the flow, the local time of their occurrence, as well as the magnitude of the flows (provided the magnetic model employed is not too distorted from dipolar form). At other local times the model predicts much smaller IMF B_y-related flow perturbations, and thus does not account for the effects observed in the pre-dusk sector.     

亚暴膨胀相近磁尾位形不稳定性模型Ⅰ．近磁尾位形不稳定性

用单流体和双流体ＭＨＤ近似，研究了近磁尾位形不稳定性（ＮＥＴＣ）．分析表明，ＮＥＴＣ可能存在两种漂移不稳定情况Ｃ１和Ｃ２与卫星观测资料对比显示，Ｃ２较容易在亚暴膨胀相前夕出现，它可以解释亚暴膨胀相期间磁场和等离子体扰动的特征周期、尾向传播速度、磁场扰动和等离子体压强扰动之间的位相关系，场向电流的周期性结构，西向涌浪头部的电子沉降和极光隆起等观测特性和现象．薄电流片的极端情况（Ｒｃ≈ｒｉ）不在本文的讨论范围之内．     

Mid-latitude ionospheric perturbation associated with the Spacelab-2 plasma depletion experiment at Millstone Hill

Elevation scans across geomagnetic mid latitudes by the incoherent scatter radar at Millstone Hill captured the ionospheric response to the firing of the Space Shuttle Challenger OMS thrusters near the peak of the F layer on July 30, 1985. Details of the excitation of airglow and the formation of an ionospheric hole during this event have been reported in an earlier paper by Mendillo et al.. The depletion (factor 2) near the 320 km Shuttle orbital altitude persisted for 35 min and then recovered to near normal levels, while at 265 km the density was reduced by a factor of 6; this significant reduction in the bottomside F-region density persisted for more than 3 hours. Total electron content in the vicinity of the hole was reduced by more than a factor of 2, and an oscillation of the F-region densities with 40-min period ensued and persisted for several hours. Plasma vertical Doppler velocity varied quasi-periodically with a 80-min period, while magnetic field variations observed on the field line through the Shuttle-burn position exhibited a similar 80-min periodicity. An interval of magnetic field variations at hydromagnetic frequencies (95 s period) accompanied the ionospheric perturbations on this field line. Radar observations revealed a downward phase progression of the 40-min period density enhancements of -1.12° km–1, corresponding to a 320-km vertical wavelength. An auroral-latitude geomagnetic disturbance began near the time of the Spacelab-2 experiment and was associated with the imposition of a strong southward IMF Bz across the magnetosphere. This created an additional complication in the interpretation of the active ionospheric experiment. It cannot be determined uniquely whether the ionospheric oscillations, which followed the Spacelab-2 experiment, were related to the active experiment or were the result of a propagating ionospheric disturbance (TID) launched by the enhanced auroral activity. The most reasonable conclusion is that the ionospheric oscillations were a result of the coincident geomagnetic disturbance. The pronounced depletion of the bottomside ionosphere, however, accentuated the oscillatory behavior during the interval following the Shuttle OMS burn.     

The contribution of magnetospheric currents toSq

Since the discovery of the magnetosphere, it has been known that the currents flowing in the magnetosphere contribute toSq, the regular daily variation in the earth's surface magnetic field. The early models, however, were not very accurate in the vicinity of the earth. The magnetospheric contribution toSq has therefore been recalculated by direct integration over the three major magnetospheric current systems; magnetopause, tail and ring. The finite electrical conductivity of the earth, which increases the horizontal and decreases the vertical components of the magnetospheric field at the earth's surface, has been taken into account. The magnetospheric currents are found to contribute 12 nanotesla to the day to night difference in the mid-latitudeSq pattern for steady, quiet magnetospheric conditions. They also contribute to the annual variation in the surface field and must be considered an important source of the observed day to day variation in theSq pattern.     

A case study of a radially polarized Pc4 event observed by the Equator-S satellite

A 16 mHz Pc4 pulsation was recorded on March 17, 1998, in the prenoon sector of the Earths magnetosphere by the Equator-S satellite. The event is strongly localized in radial direction at approximately L = 5 and exhibits properties of a field line resonance such as an ellipticity change as seen by applying the method of the analytical signal to the magnetic field data. The azimuthal wave number was estimated as m 150. We discuss whether this event can be explained by the FLR mechanism and find out that the change in ellipticity is more a general feature of a localized Alfvén wave than indicative of a resonant process.