Periodic modulation of Pc3 and Pc4 pulsations in the polar cap by interplanetary and atmospheric processes

The variations in the daily average energy of geomagnetic pulsations and noise in the Pc3 (20–60 mHz) and Pc4 (10–19 mHz) frequency bands in the polar cap have been studied based on the data from P5 Antarctic station (corrected geomagnetic latitude ?87°) from November 1998 to November 1999. The daily average pulsation energy has been calculated using the method for detecting the wave packets, the spectral amplitude of which is higher than the threshold level, from the dynamic spectrum. A spectral analysis of the energy of pulsations and noise in the Pc3 and Pc4 bands, performed using the maximal entropy method, has revealed periodicities of 18 days in the local winter and 26, 13, and 7–9 days during the local summer. The simultaneous and coherent variations with periods of 26, 13, and 7–9 days in the solar wind velocity and IMF orientation indicate that the variations in the Pc3–4 wave energy in the polar cap at a sunlit ionosphere are mainly controlled by the parameters of the interplanetary medium. The variations in the Pc3–4 wave energy with a period of 18 days are observed only during the local winter and are supposedly related to the variations in the ionospheric conductivity modulated by planetary waves.