Magnetosheath Interaction with the High Latitude Magnetopause

We present both statistical and case studies of magnetosheath interaction with the high-latitude magnetopause on the basis of Interball-1 and other ISTP spacecraft data. We discuss those data along with recently published results on the topology of cusp-magnetosheath transition and the roles of nonlinear disturbances in mass and energy transfer across the high-latitude magnetopause. For sunward dipole tilts, a cusp throat is magnetically open for direct interaction with the incident flow that results in the creation of a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) over an indented magnetopause and downstream of the cusp. For antisunward tilts, the cusp throat is closed by a smooth magnetopause; demagnetized ‘plasma balls’ (with scale ∼ few R_E, an occurrence rate of ∼25% and trapped energetic particles) present a major magnetosheath plasma channel just inside the cusp. The flow interacts with the ‘plasma balls’ via reflected waves, which trigger a chaotization of up to 40% of the upstream kinetic energy. These waves propagate upstream of the TBL and initiate amplification of the existing magnetosheath waves and their cascade-like decays during downstream passage throughout the TBL. The most striking feature of the nonlinear interaction is the appearance of magnetosonic jets, accelerated up to an Alfvenic Mach number of 3. The characteristic impulsive local momentum loss is followed by decelerated Alfvenic flows and modulated by the TBL waves; momentum balance is conserved only on time scales of the Alfvenic flows (1/f_A ∼12 min). Wave trains at f_A∼1.3 mHz are capable of synchronizing interactions throughout the outer and inner boundary layers. The sonic/Alfvenic flows, bounded by current sheets, control the TBL spectral shape and result in non-Gaussian statistical characteristics of the disturbances, indicating the fluctuation intermittency. We suggest that the multi-scale TBL processes play at least a comparable role to that of macro-reconnection (remote from or in the cusp) in solar wind energy transformation and population of the magnetosphere by the magnetosheath plasma. Secondary micro-reconnection constitutes a necessary chain at the small-scale (∼ion gyroradius) edge of the TBL cascades. The thick TBL transforms the flow energy, including deceleration and heating of the flow in the open throat, ‘plasma ball’ and the region downstream of the cusp.     

On determining the noon polar cap boundary from SuperDARN HF radar backscatter characteristics

Previous work has shown that ionospheric HF radar backscatter in the noon sector can be used to locate the footprint of the magnetospheric cusp particle precipitation. This has enabled the radar data to be used as a proxy for the location of the polar cap boundary, and hence measure the flow of plasma across it to derive the reconnection electric field in the ionosphere. This work used only single radar data sets with a field of view limited to 2 h of local time. In this case study using four of the SuperDARN radars, we examine the boundary determined over 6 h of magnetic local time around the noon sector and its relationship to the convection pattern. The variation with longitude of the latitude of the radar scatter with cusp characteristics shows a bay-like feature. It is shown that this feature is shaped by the variation with longitude of the poleward flow component of the ionospheric plasma and may be understood in terms of cusp ion time-of-flight effects. Using this interpretation, we derive the time-of-flight of the cusp ions and find that it is consistent with approximately 1 keV ions injected from a subsolar reconnection site. A method for deriving a more accurate estimate of the location of the open-closed field line boundary from HF radar data is described.     

An analysis of Pc3 and Pc4 pulsations at Terra Nova Bay (Antarctica)

We conducted a statistical analysis of the physical characteristics of the micropulsation activity (Pc3 and Pc4 range) detected, during the austral summer 1994/95, at Terra Nova Bay (Antarctica, corrected latitude 80.0°S), a station which is few degrees poleward of those where most of the Antarctic measurements in these frequency ranges have been performed. The emerging overview suggests that the correspondence between the pulsation power and the external parameters (solar wind speed, interplanetary magnetic field magnitude and orientation) is significantly stronger than at somewhat lower latitudes. The day-to-day power variability was found to be strictly related to the general level of the geomagnetic activity, and the power level sharply maximizes at local magnetic noon. In the Pc4 range peaks of correlation with the SW speed are found in the dawn and dusk sides of the Earths magnetosphere and the daily variation of the polarization pattern is closely consistent with that found at auroral latitudes and at lower frequencies. In the Pc3 range the correlation coefficient between the pulsation power and the SW speed has maximum values in the local morning, and the frequency of selected events reveals a strong IMF control during closed magnetospheric conditions. The local time dependence of the correlation coefficient between the pulsation power and the cone angle reveals an additional control by the IMF orientation, which becomes more explicit around local noon.     

CUTLASS Finland radar observations of the ionospheric signatures of flux transfer events and the resulting plasma flows

The CUTLASS Finland radar has been run in a two-beam special scan mode, which offered excellent temporal and spatial information on the flows in the high-latitude ionosphere. A detailed study of one day of this data revealed a convection reversal boundary (CRB) in the CUTLASS field of view (f.o.v) on the dayside, the direction of plasma flow either side of the boundary being typical of a dawn-cell convection pattern. Poleward of the CRB a number of pulsed transients are observed, seemingly moving away from the radar. These transients are identified here as the ionospheric signature of flux transfer events (FTEs). Equatorward of the CRB continuous backscatter was observed, believed to be due to the return flow on closed field lines. The two-beam scan offered a new and innovative opportunity to determine the size and velocity of the ionospheric signatures associated with flux transfer events and the related plasma flow pattern. The transient signature was found to have an azimuthal extent of 1900 ± 900 km and an poleward extent of 250 km. The motion of the transient features was in a predominantly westward azimuthal direction, at a velocity of 7.5 ± 3 km.     

Post-noon two-minute period pulsating aurora and their relationship to the dayside convection pattern

Poleward-moving auroral forms, as observed by meridian-scanning photometers, in the vicinity of the cusp region are generally assumed to be the optical signature of flux transfer events. Another class of quasi-continuous, short period (1–2 min) wave-like auroral emission has been identified, closely co-located with the convection reversal boundary in the post-noon sector, which is similar in appearance to such cusp aurora. It is suggested that these short period wave-like auroral emissions, the optical signature of boundary plasma sheet precipitation in the region 1 field-aligned current system, are associated with ULF magnetohydrodynamic wave activity, which is observed simultaneously by ground magnetometer stations. This association with ULF wave activity is strengthened by the observation of several harmonic frequencies in the pulsation spectrum, each an overtone of the fundamental standing wave resonance frequency.     

Possible configurations of the magnetic field in the outer magnetosphere during geomagnetic polarity reversals

Possible configurations of the magnetic field in the outer magnetosphere during geomagnetic polarity reversals are investigated by considering the idealized problem of a magnetic multipole of order m and degree n located at the centre of a spherical cavity surrounded by a boundless perfect diamagnetic medium. In this illustrative idealization, the fixed spherical (magnetopause) boundary layer behaves as a perfectly conducting surface that shields the external diamagnetic medium from the compressed multipole magnetic field, which is therefore confined within the spherical cavity. For a general magnetic multipole of degree n, the non-radial components of magnetic induction just inside the magnetopause are increased by the factor 1 + [(n + 1)/n] relative to their corresponding values in the absence of the perfectly conducting spherical magnetopause. An exact equation is derived for the magnetic field lines of an individual zonal (m = 0), or axisymmetric, magnetic multipole of arbitrary degree n located at the centre of the magnetospheric cavity. For such a zonal magnetic multipole, there are always two neutral points and n – 1 neutral rings on the spherical magnetopause surface. The two neutral points are located at the poles of the spherical magnetopause. If n is even, one of the neutral rings is coincident with the equator; otherwise, the neutral rings are located symmetrically with respect to the equator. The actual existence of idealized higher-degree (n > 1) axisymmetric magnetospheres would necessarily imply multiple (n + 1) magnetospheric cusps and multiple (n) ring currents. Exact equations are also derived for the magnetic field lines of an individual non-axisymmetric magnetic multipole, confined by a perfectly conducting spherical magnetopause, in two special cases; namely, a symmetric sectorial multipole (m = n) and an antisymmetric sectorial multipole (m = n – 1). For both these non-axisymmetric magnetic multipoles, there exists on the spherical magnetopause surface a set of neutral points linked by a network of magnetic field lines. Novel magnetospheric processes are likely to arise from the existence of magnetic neutral lines that extend from the magnetopause to the surface of the Earth. Finally, magnetic field lines that are confined to, or perpendicular to, either special meridional planes or the equatorial plane, when the multipole is in free space, continue to be confined to, or perpendicular to, these same planes when the perfectly conducting magnetopause is present.Also Honorary Research Associate, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK and Visiting Reader in Physics. University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK     

太阳风压力系数的研究

利用全球磁流体力学(MHD)的模拟结果,研究了太阳风压力系数与上游太阳风参数和日下点磁层顶张角的相关性.在识别出日下点附近磁层顶位置后,通过拟合得到日下点附近的磁层顶张角.在考虑上游太阳风中的磁压和热压以及磁层顶外侧的太阳风动压的情况下,计算了太阳风压力系数.通过分析行星际磁场不同方向时太阳风动压在日地连线上与磁压和热压的转化关系,详细研究了太阳风参数和日下点磁层顶张角对太阳风压力系数的影响,得到以下相关结论:(1) 在北向行星际磁场较大(B_z≥5 nT)时,磁层顶外侧磁压占主导,南向行星际磁场时磁层顶外侧热压占主导;(2) 太阳风压力系数随着行星际磁场的增大而增大,随着行星际磁场时钟角的增大而减小;并且在行星际磁场大小和其他太阳风条件相同时,北向行星际磁场时的太阳风压力系数要大于南向行星际磁场时的;北向行星际磁场时,太阳风压力系数随着太阳风动压的增大而减小,南向行星际磁场时,太阳风压力系数随着太阳风动压的增大而增大;以上结论是对观测结果的扩展;(3) 最后,我们还发现太阳风压力系数随着日下点磁层顶张角的增大而增大.     

Plasma structure within poleward-moving cusp/cleft auroral transients: EISCAT Svalbard radar observations and an explanation in terms of large local time extent of events

We report high-resolution observations of the southward-IMF cusp/cleft ionosphere made on December 16th 1998 by the EISCAT (European incoherent scatter) Svalbard radar (ESR), and compare them with observations of dayside auroral luminosity, as seen at a wavelength of 630 nm by a meridian scanning photometer at Ny Ålesund, and of plasma flows, as seen by the CUTLASS (co-operative UK twin location auroral sounding system) Finland HF radar. The optical data reveal a series of poleward-moving transient red-line (630 nm) enhancements, events that have been associated with bursts in the rate of magnetopause reconnection generating new open flux. The combined observations at this time have strong similarities to predictions of the effects of soft electron precipitation modulated by pulsed reconnection, as made by Davis and Lockwood (1996); however, the effects of rapid zonal flow in the ionosphere, caused by the magnetic curvature force on the newly opened field lines, are found to be a significant additional factor. In particular, it is shown how enhanced plasma loss rates induced by the rapid convection can explain two outstanding anomalies of the 630 nm transients, namely how minima in luminosity form between the poleward-moving events and how events can re-brighten as they move poleward. The observations show how cusp/cleft aurora and transient poleward-moving auroral forms appear in the ESR data and the conditions which cause enhanced 630 nm emission in the transients: they are an important first step in enabling the ESR to identify these features away from the winter solstice when supporting auroral observations are not available.     

磁层顶日下点距离R_0与磁暴D_（st）指数的相关性

利用2004—2006年ACE、WIND卫星观测的太阳风数据和相应时期反映磁暴大小的Dst指数,针对200个不同级别的磁暴事件,分析了磁层顶日下点距离R0与磁暴Dst指数的线性相关性。分析显示,在极端太阳风条件下,Dst指数时间序列比借助于Chao Model计算出的磁层顶日下点距离R0的时间序列延迟了约3h。经修正时间延迟后,对磁层顶日下点距离R0与磁暴Dst指数的线性相关性进行分析。结果表明：发生超级磁暴时,二者线性相关系数的均值为0.77;大磁暴时,线性相关系数的均值为0.74;中等磁暴时,线性相关系数的均值为0.47。此外,用最小二乘数据拟合得到了不同级别磁暴时的R0-Dst关系图。     

Meridian-scanning photometer, coherent HF radar, and magnetometer observations of the cusp: a case study

The dynamics of the cusp region and post-noon sector for an interval of predominantly IMF B_y, B_z < 0 nT are studied with the CUTLASS Finland coherent HF radar, a meridian-scanning photometer located at Ny Ålesund, Svalbard, and a meridional network of magnetometers. The scanning mode of the radar is such that one beam is sampled every 14 s, and a 30° azimuthal sweep is completed every 2 minutes, all at 15 km range resolution. Both the radar backscatter and red line (630 nm) optical observations are closely co-located, especially at their equatorward boundary. The optical and radar aurora reveal three different behaviours which can interchange on the scale of minutes, and which are believed to be related to the dynamic nature of energy and momentum transfer from the solar wind to the magnetosphere through transient dayside reconnection. Two interpretations of the observations are presented, based upon the assumed location of the open/closed field line boundary (OCFLB). In the first, the OCFLB is co-located with equatorward boundary of the optical and radar aurora, placing most of the observations on open field lines. In the second, the observed aurora are interpreted as the ionospheric footprint of the region 1 current system, and the OCFLB is placed near the poleward edge of the radar backscatter and visible aurora; in this interpretation, most of the observations are placed on closed field lines, though transient brightenings of the optical aurora occur on open field lines. The observations reveal several transient features, including poleward and equatorward steps in the observed boundaries, braiding of the backscatter power, and 2 minute quasi-periodic enhancements of the plasma drift and optical intensity, predominantly on closed field lines.