The dynamic cusp aurora on 30 November 1997: response to southward turning of the IMF

We document the detailed dynamics of the dayside aurora in the ≈1200–1600 MLT sector in response to a sharp southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) under negative IMF B_y conditions. Features not documented in previous work are elucidated by using two meridan scanning photometers (separated by 2 h) and an all-sky auroral imager in Ny Ålesund, Svalbard (75.5^MLAT) in combination with magnetograms from stations on Svalbard, covering the latitude range 71^–75^MLAT. The initial auroral response may be divided into three phases consisting of: (1) intensification of both the red (630.0 nm) and green (557.7 nm) line emissions in the cusp aurora near 1200 MLT and ≈100 km equatorward shift of its equatorward boundary, at ≈75^MLAT, (2) eastward and poleward expansions of the cusp aurora, reaching the 1430 MLT meridian after 5–6 min, and (3) east-west expansion of the higher-latitude aurora (at ≈77^–78^MLAT) in the postnoon sector. The associated magnetic disturbance is characterized by an initial positive deflection of the X-component at stations located 100–400 km south of the aurora, corresponding to enhanced Sunward return flow associated with the merging convection cell in the post-noon sector. The sequence of partly overlapping poleward moving auroral forms (PMAFs) during the first 15 min, accompanied by corresponding pulsations in the convection current, was followed by a strong westward contraction of the cusp aurora when the ground magnetograms indicated a temporary return to the pre-onset level. These observations are discussed in relation to the Cowley-Lockwood model of ionospheric response to pulsed magnetopause reconnection.     

The ionospheric signature of transient dayside reconnection and the associated pulsed convection return flow

Three SuperDARN coherent HF radars are employed to investigate the excitation of convection in the dayside high-latitude ionosphere in response to transient reconnection occurring in the cusp region. This study demonstrates the existence of transient antisunward-propagating backscatter features at the expected location of the ionospheric footprint of the cusp region, which have a repetition rate near 10 min. These are interpreted as the ionospheric signature of flux transfer events. Moreover, transient sunward-propagating regions of backscatter are observed in the convection return flow regions of both the pre- and post-noon sectors. These patches are observed to propagate towards the noon sector from at least as far around the auroral zone as 07 MLT in the pre-noon sector and 17 MLT in the post-noon sector, travelling with a veloCity of approximately 1.5 to 2 km s⁻¹. These return flow patches have a repetition rate similar to that of the transient features observed at local noon. While providing supporting evidence for the impulsive nature of convection flow, the observation of sunward-propagating features in the return flow region is not consistent with current conceptual models of the excitation of convection.     

大坝变形失稳的尖点突变模型

基于大坝变形失稳的简化力学模型,考虑裂隙的非线性应变软化和渗水软化,根据突变理论推导了大坝变形失稳的尖点突变模型,并利用该模型对大坝变形失稳的机理和力学条件进行了分析,从整体上深化了对大坝变形失稳机制的认识。     

突变理论在地震资料解释中的应用

阐述了尖点突变理论,建立了地震信号尖点突变模型并转化为尖点突变的标准形式,在时间域内提取突跳势、突跳时间;在频率域内提取突跳势、突跳次数等参数。运用突变理论对实际地震资料进行构造解释表明:突跳参数曲线上异常的位置与断层的位置有关,为地震资料解释提供了一种新的途径。      

极隙区极光粒子沉降对电离层影响的模拟研究

利用一维自洽的时变极区电离层模型,研究极隙区极光粒子沉降对极区电离层F层电子密度影响的时变过程。假设一维时变电离层模型描述的磁流管中F层等离子体在对流作用下经过极隙区,随对流路径的不同,磁流管在极隙区经历的时间不同,以此考察极光粒子沉降作用下电离层随时间的演化过程。数值计算结果表明,当磁流管在极隙区停留的时间足够长,F层电子密度能显著增大。然而在磁流管经历极隙区实际时间较短的情况下,极隙区极光粒子沉降对F层电子密度的影响并不大。本文还给出了统计对流模型作用下磁流管在经历极隙区时,有沉降粒子作用和没有沉降粒子作用两种情况下,F层等离子体的时间变化过程的差异。     

Modeling of occurrence frequencies of ion conics as a function of altitude and conic angle

The occurrence frequencies of dayside ion conics with various conic angles are obtained as a function of altitude from Exos-D (Akebono) observations. We made a model calculation of ion conic evolution to match the observation results. The observed occurrence frequencies of ion conics with 80° to 90° conic angle are used as an input to the model and the occurrence frequencies of ion conics with smaller conic angles are numerically calculated at higher altitudes. The calculated occurrence frequencies are compared with the observed ones of ion conics with smaller conic angles. We take into account conic angle variation with altitude in both adiabatic and non-adiabatic cases, horizontal extension of ion conics due to E × B drift, and evolution to elevated conics and ion beams in the model. In the adiabatic case, the conic angle decreases with increasing altitude much faster than was observed. The occurrence frequency of small-angle conics is much larger than the observed value without E × B drift and evolution to the other UFIs. An agreement is obtained by assuming non-adiabatic variation of conic angles with altitude and an ion E × B drift to gyro velocity ratio of 0.08 to 0.6, depending on geomagnetic activities.     

Reconfiguration and closure of lobe flux by reconnection during northward IMF: possible evidence for signatures in cusp/cleft auroral emissions

Observations are presented of the response of the dayside cusp/cleft aurora to changes in both the clock and elevation angles of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) vector, as monitored by the WIND spacecraft. The auroral observations are made in 630 nm light at the winter solstice near magnetic noon, using an all-sky camera and a meridian-scanning photometer on the island of Spitsbergen. The dominant change was the response to a northward turning of the IMF which caused a poleward retreat of the dayside aurora. A second, higher-latitude band of aurora was seen to form following the northward turning, which is interpreted as the effect of lobe reconnection which reconfigures open flux. We suggest that this was made possible in the winter hemisphere, despite the effect of the Earth’s dipole tilt, by a relatively large negative X component of the IMF. A series of five events then formed in the poleward band and these propagated in a southwestward direction and faded at the equatorward edge of the lower-latitude band as it migrated poleward. It is shown that the auroral observations are consistent with overdraped lobe flux being generated by lobe reconnection in the winter hemisphere and subsequently being re-closed by lobe reconnection in the summer hemisphere. We propose that the balance between the reconnection rates at these two sites is modulated by the IMF elevation angle, such that when the IMF points more directly northward, the summer lobe reconnection site dominates, re-closing all overdraped lobe flux and eventually becoming disconnected from the Northern Hemisphere.     

A flux transfer event observed at the magnetopause by the Equator-S spacecraft and in the ionosphere by the CUTLASS HF radar

Observations of a flux transfer event (FTE) have been made simultaneously by the Equator-S spacecraft near the dayside magnetopause whilst corresponding transient plasma flows were seen in the near-conjugate polar ionosphere by the CUTLASS Finland HF radar. Prior to the occurrence of the FTE, the magnetometer on the WIND spacecraft ≈226 R_E upstream of the Earth in the solar wind detected a southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) which is estimated to have reached the subsolar magnetopause ≈77 min later. Shortly afterwards the Equator-S magnetometer observed a typical bipolar FTE signature in the magnetic field component normal to the magnetopause, just inside the magnetosphere. Almost simultaneously the CUTLASS Finland radar observed a strong transient flow in the F region plasma between 78° and 83° magnetic latitude, near the ionospheric region predicted to map along geomagnetic field lines to the spacecraft. The flow signature (and the data set as a whole) is found to be fully consistent with the view that the FTE was formed by a burst of magnetopause reconnection.     

泥沙突变理论在海底管线冲刷中应用

基于泥沙突变理论,针对海底管线冲刷下泥沙的运动特征,建立恒定流作用下的泥沙起动模式,确定希尔兹数、无量纲参数、冲刷坑深度之间相互作用的非线性方程,推导了恒定流作用下海底管线冲刷坑深度的预测公式。将相同条件下该公式的计算结果与前人的试验资料进行了对比,可发现尽管计算结果存在一定的误差,但也基本能满足对冲刷坑深度的预测和判断,从而证明了泥沙突变模型在预测海底管线冲刷坑深度中的适用性。     

基于尖点突变的河型稳定性判定方法

冲积河道的自我调整过程是多因素相互作用的复杂响应过程,对冲积河道河型的稳定性和调整方向进行判定是河流动力学的基本问题之一。根据突变理论中的尖点突变模式,采用影响河道稳定性的控制变量与状态参量,建立河道平衡状态方程,并推导得到河流状态判别式。通过对100多条天然河流及实验河段进行验证,结果显示这一方法能判定冲积河流的河型稳定状态,并对其调整方向作出预测,为实际工程中的河流整治提供一定的参考。