The Boundary of the Polar Cap and its Relation to Electric Fields, Field-Aligned Currents, and Auroral Particle Precipitation

2013 ◽  
pp. 143-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Torbert ◽  
C. A. Cattell ◽  
F. S. Mozer ◽  
C.-I. Meng
Keyword(s):  
Electric Fields ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Particle Precipitation ◽  
Auroral Particle Precipitation

scholarly journals Strong sunward propagating flow bursts in the night sector during quiet solar wind conditions: SuperDARN and satellite observations

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 771-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Senior ◽  
J.-C. Cerisier ◽  
F. Rich ◽  
M. Lester ◽  
G. K. Parks
Keyword(s):  
Convective Transport ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Particle Precipitation ◽  
Phase Velocities ◽  
Plasma Injection ◽  
Night Side ◽  
Magnetospheric Boundaries ◽  
Auroral Particle Precipitation ◽  
Imf Clock Angle

Abstract. High-time resolution data from the two Iceland SuperDARN HF radars show very strong nightside convection activity during a prolonged period of low geomagnetic activity and northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Flows bursts with velocities ranging from 0.8 to 1.7 km/s are observed to propagate in the sunward direction with phase velocities up to 1.5 km/s. These bursts occur over several hours of MLT in the 20:00–01:00 MLT sector, in the evening-side sunward convection. Data from a simultaneous DMSP pass and POLAR UVI images show a very contracted polar cap and extended regions of auroral particle precipitation from the magnetospheric boundaries. A DMSP pass over the Iceland-West field-of-view while one of these sporadic bursts of enhanced flow is observed, indicates that the flow bursts appear within the plasma sheet and at its outward edge, which excludes Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities at the magnetopause boundary as the generation mechanism. In the nightside region, the precipitation is more spot-like and the convection organizes itself as clockwise U-shaped structures. We interpret these flow bursts as the convective transport following plasma injection events from the tail into the night-side ionosphere. We show that during this period, where the IMF clock angle is around 70°, the dayside magnetosphere is not completely closed.Key words. Ionosphere (Auroral ionosphere; Ionospheremagnetosphere interactions; Particle precipitation)

scholarly journals Influence of different types of ionospheric disturbances on GPS signals at polar latitudes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir B. Belakhovsky ◽  
Yaqi Jin ◽  
Wojciech J. Miloch
Keyword(s):  
Interplanetary Shock ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Ionospheric Disturbances ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Particle Precipitation ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Interplanetary Shock Wave ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Auroral Particle Precipitation

Abstract. The comparative research of the influence of different types of auroral particle precipitation and polar cap patches (PCP) on the GPS signals disturbances in the polar ionosphere was done. For this purpose, we use the GPS scintillation receivers at Ny-Ålesund and Skibotn, operated by the University of Oslo. The presence of the auroral particle precipitation and polar cap patches was determined by using data from the EISCAT 42 m radar on Svalbard. The optical aurora observations in 557.7 nm, 630.0 nm spectrum lines on Svalbard were used as well for the detection of ionospheric disturbances. The cusp identification was done with using SuperDARN (Hankasalmi) data. We consider about 150 events when the simultaneous EISCAT 42 m and GPS data were available for the 2010–2017 years, in paper we present in detail only typical examples describing the overall picture. It was considered the dayside/cusp precipitation, substorm precipitations, daytime and nighttime PCP, precipitation associated with the interplanetary shock wave arrival. Cusp phase scintillations are lower than dayside PCP scintillations. We demonstrate that substorm-associated precipitations (even without PCP) can lead to a strong GPS phase (σϕ) scintillations up to ~2 radians which is much stronger than those usually produced by other types of the considered ionosphere disturbances. At the same PCPs can lead to stronger ROT (rate of total electron content) variations. So our observations suggest that the substorms and PCPs, being different types of the high-latitude disturbances, lead to the development of different types and scales of ionospheric irregularities.

scholarly journals Influence of different types of ionospheric disturbances on GPS signals at polar latitudes

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-700
Author(s):  
Vladimir B. Belakhovsky ◽  
Yaqi Jin ◽  
Wojciech J. Miloch
Keyword(s):  
Interplanetary Shock ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Ionospheric Disturbances ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Particle Precipitation ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Interplanetary Shock Wave ◽  
Field Disturbance ◽  
Auroral Particle Precipitation

Abstract. The comparative research of the influence of different types of auroral particle precipitation and polar cap patches (PCPs) on the global positioning system (GPS) signals disturbances in the polar ionosphere was done. For this purpose, we use the GPS scintillation receivers at Ny-Ålesund and Skibotn, operated by the University of Oslo. The presence of the auroral particle precipitation and polar cap patches was determined by using data from the EISCAT 42m radar on Svalbard. The optical aurora observations in 557.7 and 630.0 nm spectrum lines on Svalbard were used as well for the detection of ionospheric disturbances. The cusp identification was done with using SuperDARN (Hankasalmi) data. We consider events when the simultaneous EISCAT 42m and GPS data were available for the years 2010–2017, and in this paper we present, in detail, typical examples describing the overall picture, and we present the statistics for 120 events. We considered the dayside/cusp precipitation, substorm precipitation, daytime and nighttime PCPs, and precipitation associated with the interplanetary shock wave arrival. We demonstrate that substorm-associated precipitation (even without PCPs) can lead to a strong GPS phase (σϕ) scintillations up to ∼ 1.5–3 radians, which is much stronger than those usually produced by other types of considered ionosphere disturbances. The value of the substorm-phase scintillations in general correlate with the value of the geomagnetic field disturbance. But sometimes even a small geomagnetic substorm, when combined with the PCPs, produces quite strong phase scintillations. Cusp phase scintillations are lower than dayside PCPs scintillations. PCPs can lead to stronger ROT (rate of total electron content) variations than other types of ionosphere disturbances. So our observations suggest that the substorms and PCPs, being different types of the high-latitude disturbances, lead to the development of different types and scales of ionospheric irregularities.

scholarly journals Polar patches observed by ESR and their possible origin in the cusp region

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 1043-1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Smith ◽  
S. E. Pryse ◽  
L. Kersley
Keyword(s):  
Energy Distribution ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Plasma Flow ◽  
Plasma Temperature ◽  
Soft Particle ◽  
Polar Ionosphere ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Particle Precipitation ◽  
Cusp Region ◽  
Reconnection Site

Abstract. Observations by the EISCAT Svalbard radar in summer have revealed electron density enhancements in the magnetic noon sector under conditions of IMF Bz southward. The features were identified as possible candidates for polar-cap patches drifting anti-Sunward with the plasma flow. Supporting measurements by the EISCAT mainland radar, the CUTLASS radar and DMSP satellites, in a multi-instrument study, suggested that the origin of the structures lay upstream at lower latitudes, with the modulation in density being attributed to variability in soft-particle precipitation in the cusp region. It is proposed that the variations in precipitation may be linked to changes in the location of the reconnection site at the magnetopause, which in turn results in changes in the energy distribution of the precipitating particles.Key words: Ionosphere (ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions; plasma temperature and density; polar ionosphere)

scholarly journals Validation of the stream function method used for reconstruction of experimental ionospheric convection patterns

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-460
Author(s):  
P.L. Israelevich ◽  
V. O. Papitashvili ◽  
A. I. Ershkovich
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Value Problem ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Stream Function ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Electric Potential ◽  
Potential Distribution ◽  
Function Method ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Ionospheric Convection ◽  
Convection Patterns

Abstract. In this study we test a stream function method suggested by Israelevich and Ershkovich for instantaneous reconstruction of global, high-latitude ionospheric convection patterns from a limited set of experimental observations, namely, from the electric field or ion drift velocity vector measurements taken along two polar satellite orbits only. These two satellite passes subdivide the polar cap into several adjacent areas. Measured electric fields or ion drifts can be considered as boundary conditions (together with the zero electric potential condition at the low-latitude boundary) for those areas, and the entire ionospheric convection pattern can be reconstructed as a solution of the boundary value problem for the stream function without any preliminary information on ionospheric conductivities. In order to validate the stream function method, we utilized the IZMIRAN electrodynamic model (IZMEM) recently calibrated by the DMSP ionospheric electrostatic potential observations. For the sake of simplicity, we took the modeled electric fields along the noon-midnight and dawn-dusk meridians as the boundary conditions. Then, the solution(s) of the boundary value problem (i.e., a reconstructed potential distribution over the entire polar region) is compared with the original IZMEM/DMSP electric potential distribution(s), as well as with the various cross cuts of the polar cap. It is found that reconstructed convection patterns are in good agreement with the original modelled patterns in both the northern and southern polar caps. The analysis is carried out for the winter and summer conditions, as well as for a number of configurations of the interplanetary magnetic field.Key words: Ionosphere (electric fields and currents; plasma convection; modelling and forecasting)

Radar studies of high-latitude ionospheric flows

1989 ◽  
Vol 328 (1598) ◽  
pp. 107-118 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Flow Pattern ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Strong Interactions ◽  
Plasma Convection ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
Incoherent Scatter ◽  
Incoherent Scatter Radars ◽  
Coupling Processes

Strong interactions occur between the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field which result in the convection of ionospheric plasma over the polar cap regions. This generally forms a two-cell pattern with westward and eastward flows in the pre- and post-midnight sectors respectively. The flow pattern is sensitive to the flux of the solar wind and the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field. Observations of the flow pattern are thus of considerable value in the interpretation of the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling processes and in identifying the influence of the solar wind on the Earth’s environment. The plasma convection can be observed by ground-based coherent and incoherent scatter radars and the flow vectors determined. Measurements for a range of flow conditions are presented. These are interpreted in terms of the interactions of the solar wind with the magnetosphere and the resulting electric fields which drive the plasma flows in the ionosphere.

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