Plasma Convection in the Terrestrial Magnetotail Lobes Measured Near the Moon's Orbit

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Cao ◽  
Jasper S. Halekas ◽  
Feng Chu ◽  
Michael Kistler ◽  
Andrew R. Poppe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Convection

scholarly journals Central polar cap convection response to short duration southward Interplanetary Magnetic Field

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 887-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. T. Jayachandran ◽  
J. W. MacDougall
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Interplanetary Magnetic Field ◽  
Short Duration ◽  
Initial Response ◽  
Plasma Convection ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Ionosphere Plasma ◽  
Rapid Transition ◽  
Convection Speed ◽  
A Chain

Abstract. Central polar cap convection changes associated with southward turnings of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) are studied using a chain of Canadian Advanced Digital Ionosondes (CADI) in the northern polar cap. A study of 32 short duration (~1 h) southward IMF transition events found a three stage response: (1) initial response to a southward transition is near simultaneous for the entire polar cap; (2) the peak of the convection speed (attributed to the maximum merging electric field) propagates poleward from the ionospheric footprint of the merging region; and (3) if the change in IMF is rapid enough, then a step in convection appears to start at the cusp and then propagates antisunward over the polar cap with the velocity of the maximum convection. On the nightside, a substorm onset is observed at about the time when the step increase in convection (associated with the rapid transition of IMF) arrives at the polar cap boundary.Key words: Ionosphere (plasma convection; polar ionosphere) - Magnetospheric physics (solar wind - magnetosphere interaction)

A comparison of SuperDARN-derived plasma convection and DMSP ion drift measurements

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Xu ◽  
Jisheng Xu ◽  
Koustov Alexandre ◽  
Papitashvili Vladimir ◽  
Rich Fedrich
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Convection ◽  
Ion Drift

scholarly journals SuperDARN convection and Sondrestrom plasma drift

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 749-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Xu ◽  
A. V. Koustov ◽  
J. Thayer ◽  
M. A. McCready
Keyword(s):  
Reasonable Agreement ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Line Of Sight ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Plasma Convection ◽  
Map Comparison ◽  
Incoherent Scatter ◽  
Plasma Drift ◽  
End Products ◽  
Strong Disagreement

Abstract. Plasma convection measurements by the Goose Bay and Stokkseyri SuperDARN radar pair and the Sondrestrom incoherent scatter radar are compared in three different ways, by looking at the line-of-sight (l-o-s) velocities, by comparing the SuperDARN vectors and corresponding Sondrestrom l-o-s velocities and by comparing the end products of the instruments, the convection maps. All three comparisons show overall reasonable agreement of the convection measurements though the data spread is significant and for some points a strong disagreement is obvious. The convection map comparison shows a tendency for the SuperDARN velocities to be often less than the Sondrestrom drifts for strong flows (velocities > 1000 m/s) and larger for weak flows (velocities < 500 m/s). On average, both effects do not exceed 35%. Data indicate that inconsistencies between the two data sets occur largely at times of fast temporal variations of the plasma drift and for strongly irregular flow ac-cording to the SuperDARN convection maps. These facts indicate that the observed discrepancies are in many cases a result of the different spatial and temporal resolutions of the instruments.Key words. Ionosphere (ionospheric irregularities; plasma convection; polar ionosphere)

scholarly journals Simultaneous high- and low-latitude reconnection: ESR and DMSP observations

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 1311-1320 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Pitout ◽  
P. T. Newell ◽  
S. C. Buchert
Keyword(s):  
High Latitude ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Polar Ionosphere ◽  
Plasma Convection ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Svalbard Archipelago ◽  
Cusp Region ◽  
Ionosphere Plasma ◽  
Particle Measurement

Abstract. We present EISCAT Svalbard Radar and DMSP observations of a double cusp during an interval of predominantly northward IMF on 26 November 2000. In the cusp region, the ESR dish, pointing northward, recorded sun-ward ionospheric flow at high latitudes (above 82° GL), indicating reconnection occuring in the magnetospheric lobe. Meanwhile, the same dish also recorded bursts of poleward flow, indicative of bursty reconnection at the subsolar magnetopause. Within this time interval, the DMSP F13 satellite passed in the close vicinity of the Svalbard archipelago. The particle measurement on board exhibited a double cusp structure in which two oppositely oriented ion dispersions are recorded. We interpret this set of data in terms of simultaneous merging at low- and high-latitude magnetopause. We discuss the conditions for which such simultaneous high-latitude and low-latitude reconnection can be anticipated. We also discuss the consequences of the presence of two X-lines in the dayside polar ionosphere.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (solar wind-magnetosphere interactions) – Ionosphere (polar ionosphere; plasma convection)

scholarly journals Simultaneous observations at different altitudes of ionospheric backscatter in the eastward electrojet

1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Milan ◽  
M. Lester
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Approximate Determination ◽  
Spectral Signature ◽  
Plasma Convection ◽  
Flow Angle ◽  
F Region ◽  
Ion Acoustic ◽  
E Region ◽  
Acoustic Speed

Abstract. A common feature of evening near-range ionospheric backscatter in the CUTLASS Iceland radar field of view is two parallel, approximately L-shell-aligned regions of westward flow which are attributed to irregularities in the auroral eastward electrojet region of the ionosphere. These backscatter channels are separated by approximately 100–200 km in range. The orientation of the CUTLASS Iceland radar beams and the zonally aligned nature of the flow allows an approximate determination of flow angle to be made without the necessity of bistatic measurements. The two flow channels have different azimuthal variations in flow velocity and spectral width. The nearer of the two regions has two distinct spectral signatures. The eastern beams detect spectra with velocities which saturate at or near the ion-acoustic speed, and have low spectral widths (less than 100 m s–1), while the western beams detect lower velocities and higher spectral widths (above 200 m s–1). The more distant of the two channels has only one spectral signature with velocities above the ion-acoustic speed and high spectral widths. The spectral characteristics of the backscatter are consistent with E-region scatter in the nearer channel and upper-E-region or F-region scatter in the further channel. Temporal variations in the characteristics of both channels support current theories of E-region turbulent heating and previous observations of velocity-dependent backscatter cross-section. In future, observations of this nature will provide a powerful tool for the investigation of simultaneous E- and F-region irregularity generation under similar (nearly co-located or magnetically conjugate) electric field conditions.Key words. Auroral ionosphere · Ionospheric irregularities · Plasma convection

scholarly journals Localized electron density enhancements in the high-altitude polar ionosphere and their relationships with storm-enhanced density (SED) plumes and polar tongues of ionization (TOI)

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Kitanoya ◽  
T. Abe ◽  
A. W. Yau ◽  
T. Hori ◽  
N. Nishitani
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Plasma Density ◽  
High Plasma ◽  
Density Increase ◽  
Statistical Characteristics ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Polar Ionosphere ◽  
Plasma Convection ◽  
Total Electron

Abstract. Events of localized electron density increase in the high-altitude (>3000 km) polar ionosphere are occasionally identified by the thermal plasma instruments on the Akebono satellite. In this paper, we investigate the vertical density structure in one of such events in detail using simultaneous observations by the Akebono and DMSP F15 satellites, the SuperDARN radars, and a network of ground Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, and the statistical characteristics of a large number (>10 000) of such events using Akebono data over half of an 11-year solar cycle. At Akebono altitude, the parallel drift velocity is remarkably low and the O+ ion composition ratio remarkably high, inside the high plasma-density regions at high altitude. Detailed comparisons between Akebono, DMSP ion velocity and density, and GPS total electron content (TEC) data suggest that the localized plasma density increase observed at high altitude on Akebono was likely connected with the polar tongue of ionization (TOI) and/or storm enhanced density (SED) plume observed in the F-region ionosphere. Together with the SuperDARN plasma convection map these data suggest that the TOI/SED plume penetrated into the polar cap due to anti-sunward convection and the plume existed in the same convection channel as the dense plasma at high altitude; in other words, the two were probably connected to each other by the convecting magnetic field lines. The observed features are consistent with the observed high-density plasma being transported from the mid-latitude ionosphere or plasmasphere and unlikely a part of the polar wind population.

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