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1.
We report observations of the cusp/cleft ionosphere made on December 16th 1998 by the EISCAT (European incoherent scatter) VHF radar at Troms and the EISCAT Svalbard radar (ESR). We compare them with observations of the dayside auroral luminosity, as seen by meridian scanning photometers at Ny Ålesund and of HF radar backscatter, as observed by the CUTLASS radar. We study the response to an interval of about one hour when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), monitored by the WIND and ACE spacecraft, was southward. The cusp/cleft aurora is shown to correspond to a spatially extended region of elevated electron temperatures in the VHF radar data. Initial conditions were characterised by a northward-directed IMF and cusp/cleft aurora poleward of the ESR. A strong southward turning then occurred, causing an equatorward motion of the cusp/cleft aurora. Within the equatorward expanding, southward-IMF cusp/cleft, the ESR observed structured and elevated plasma densities and ion and electron temperatures. Cleft ion fountain upflows were seen in association with elevated ion temperatures and rapid eastward convection, consistent with the magnetic curvature force on newly opened field lines for the observed negative IMF By. Subsequently, the ESR beam remained immediately poleward of the main cusp/cleft and a sequence of poleward-moving auroral transients passed over it. After the last of these, the ESR was in the polar cap and the radar observations were characterised by extremely low ionospheric densities and downward field-aligned flows. The IMF then turned northward again and the auroral oval contracted such that the ESR moved back into the cusp/cleft region. For the poleward-retreating, northward-IMF cusp/cleft, the convection flows were slower, upflows were weaker and the electron density and temperature enhancements were less structured. Following the northward turning, the bands of high electron temperature and cusp/cleft aurora bifurcated, consistent with both subsolar and lobe reconnection taking place simultaneously. The present paper describes the large-scale behaviour of the ionosphere during this interval, as observed by a powerful combination of instruments. Two companion papers, by Lockwood et al. (2000) and Thorolfsson et al. (2000), both in this issue, describe the detailed behaviour of the poleward-moving transients observed during the interval of southward Bz, and explain their morphology in the context of previous theoretical work.  相似文献   

2.
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.  相似文献   

3.
The open magnetosphere model of cusp ion injection, acceleration and precipitation is used to predict the dispersion characteristics for fully pulsed magnetic reconnection at a low-latitude magnetopause X-line. The resulting steps, as would be seen by a satellite moving meridionally and normal to the ionospheric projection of the X-line, are compared with those seen by satellites moving longitudinally, along the open/closed boundary. It is shown that two observed cases can be explained by similar magnetosheath and reconnection characteristics, and that the major differences between them are well explained by the different satellite paths through the events. Both cases were observed in association with poleward-moving transient events seen by ground-based radar, as also predicted by the theory. The results show that the reconnection is pulsed but strongly imply it cannot also be spatially patchy, in the sense of isolated X-lines which independently are intermittently active. Furthermore they show that the reconnection pulses responsible for the poleward-moving events and the cusp ion steps, must cover at least 3 h of magnetic local time, although propagation of the active reconnection region may mean that it does not extend this far at any one instant of time.  相似文献   

4.
Early in 1996, the latest of the European inco-herent-scatter (EISCAT) radars came into operation on the Svalbard islands. The EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR) has been built in order to study the ionosphere in the northern polar cap and in particular, the dayside cusp. Conditions in the upper atmosphere in the cusp region are complex, with magnetosheath plasma cascading freely into the atmosphere along open magnetic field lines as a result of magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. A model has been developed to predict the effects of pulsed reconnection and the subsequent cusp precipitation in the ionosphere. Using this model we have successfully recreated some of the major features seen in photometer and satellite data within the cusp. In this paper, the work is extended to predict the signatures of pulsed reconnection in ESR data when the radar is pointed along the magnetic field. It is expected that enhancements in both electron concentration and electron temperature will be observed. Whether these enhancements are continuous in time or occur as a series of separate events is shown to depend critically on where the open/closed field-line boundary is with respect to the radar. This is shown to be particularly true when reconnection pulses are superposed on a steady background rate.  相似文献   

5.
Two Doppler imaging systems (DIS) or wide-field imaging Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPI), have recently been commissioned, one at the Auroral Station, Adventdalen, Longyearbyen, Svalbard, and the second at the IRF, Kiruna, Sweden. These instruments can provide wide-field (600 * 800 km) images of neutral wind flows in the upper thermosphere, by measuring the Doppler shift of the atomic oxygen forbidden near 630 nm, which is emitted from an altitude of approximately 240 km. From the instrument in Svalbard, at mid-winter, it is possible to observe the dayside polar cusp and the polar cap throughout the entire day, whereas from Kiruna, the night-time auroral oval is observable during the hours of darkness. Measurements of thermospheric dynamics from the DIS can be used in conjunction with observations of ionospheric plasma flows and thermal plasma densities by the EISCAT-Svalbard radar (ESR) and by EISCAT, along with other complementary observations by co-located instruments such as the auroral large-scale imaging system (ALIS). Such combined data sets will allow a wide range of scientific studies to be performed concerning the dynamical response of the thermosphere and ionosphere, and the important energetic and momentum exchange processes resulting from their complex interactions. These processes are particularly important in the immediate vicinity of the polar cusp and within the auroral oval. Early results from Svalbard in late 1995 will be discussed. The DIS in Kiruna observed two interesting geomagnetic disturbances in early 1997, the minor geomagnetic storm of 10, 11 January, and the disturbed period from 7–10 February. During these events, the thermospheric wind response showed some interesting departures from the average behaviour, which we attribute to the result of strong and variable Lorenz forcing (ion drag) and Joule and particle heating during these geomagnetic disturbances.  相似文献   

6.
利用EISCAT VHF和EISCAT Svalbard（ESR）雷达观测数据,对2003年2月12日IMF Bz分量4次快速方向转换期间,极区电离层,尤其是极尖/极隙区的响应特征进行了分析研究.随着IMF Bz方向的多次快速变化,地面雷达观测到极尖/极隙区所在位置随着开放-闭合磁力线边界在纬度方向上来回移动.在此期间,极区电离层等离子体水平对流多次反向,表现出与IMF Bz分量强的负相关性.进一步分析表明：极区磁层-电离层系统在日侧对IMF极性变化的平均响应时间约为3 min.  相似文献   

7.
Nearly two years of 2-min resolution data and 7- to 21-s resolution data from the CUTLASS Finland HF radar have undergone Fourier analysis in order to study statistically the occurrence rates and repetition frequencies of pulsed ionospheric flows in the noon-sector high-latitude ionosphere. Pulsed ionospheric flow bursts are believed to be the ionospheric footprint of newly reconnected geomagnetic field lines, which occur during episodes of magnetic flux transfer to the terrestrial magnetosphere - flux transfer events or FTEs. The distribution of pulsed ionospheric flows were found to be well grouped in the radar field of view, and to be in the vicinity of the radar signature of the cusp footprint. Two thirds of the pulsed ionospheric flow intervals included in the statistical study occurred when the interplanetary magnetic field had a southward component, supporting the hypothesis that pulsed ionospheric flows are a reconnection-related phenomenon. The occurrence rate of the pulsed ionospheric flow fluctuation period was independent of the radar scan mode. The statistical results obtained from the radar data are compared to occurrence rates and repetition frequencies of FTEs derived from spacecraft data near the magnetopause reconnection region, and to ground-based optical measurements of poleward moving auroral forms. The distributions obtained by the various instruments in different regions of the magnetosphere were remarkably similar. The radar, therefore, appears to give an unbiased sample of magnetopause activity in its routine observations of the cusp footprint.  相似文献   

8.
本文分析了2004年2月11日11:00～11:40 UT期间Cluster卫星簇的磁通门磁力计FGM）、等离子体电子及电流试验仪（PEACE）和CUTLASS 芬兰雷达对多个磁通量传输事件(FTEs)的同时观测. 在此期间,Cluster卫星簇位于北半球外极隙区附近,并于11:18 UT左右穿出磁层顶进入磁鞘,四颗卫星同时观测到了多个FTEs, 其出现具有准周期性,周期约为130 s. 利用Cluster四颗卫星的多点同时观测数据,采用最小方向微分法和时空微分方法,我们推断这些FTEs是尺度大小约为(0.87～1.81)RE的准二维结构,其运动方向为东北方向,与Cooling模型预测方向基本一致. CUTLASS芬兰雷达在相应的电离层区域观测到了明显的“极向运动雷达极光”结构,这些结构与Cluster卫星簇观测的FTEs有着很好的对应关系,它们是FTEs的雷达观测特征.  相似文献   

9.
The ionospheric response to flux transfer events: the first few minutes   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
We utilise high-time resolution measurements from the PACE HF radar at Halley, Antarctica to explore the evolution of the ionospheric response during the first few minutes after enhanced reconnection occurs at the magnetopause. We show that the plasma velocity increases associated with flux transfer events (FTEs) occur first 100–200 km equatorward of the region to which magnetosheath (cusp) precipitation maps to the ionosphere. We suggest that these velocity variations start near the ionospheric footprint of the boundary between open and closed magnetic field lines. We show that these velocity variations have rise times 100 s and fall times of 10 s. When these velocity transients reach the latitude of the cusp precipitation, sometimes the equatorward boundary of the precipitation begins to move equatorward, the expected and previously reported ionospheric signature of enhanced reconnection. A hypothesis is proposed to explain the velocity variations. It involves the rapid outflow of magnetospheric electrons into the magnetosheath along the most recently reconnected field lines. Several predictions are made arising from the proposed explanation which could be tested with ground-based and space-based observations.  相似文献   

10.
We investigate the dayside auroral dynamics and ionospheric convection during an interval when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) had predominantly a positive Bz component (northward IMF) but varying By. Polar UVI observations of the Northern Hemisphere auroral emission indicate the existence of a region of luminosity near local noon at latitudes poleward of the dayside auroral oval, which we interpret as the ionospheric footprint of a high-latitude reconnection site. The large field-of-view afforded by the satellite-borne imager allows an unprecedented determination of the dynamics of this region, which has not previously been possible with ground-based observations. The location of the emission in latitude and magnetic local time varies in response to changes in the orientation of the IMF; the cusp MLT and the IMF By component are especially well correlated, the emission being located in the pre- or post-noon sectors for By < 0 nT or By > 0 nT, respectively. Simultaneous ground-based observations of the ionospheric plasma drift are provided by the CUTLASS Finland HF coherent radar. For an interval of IMF By 0 nT, these convection flow measurements suggest the presence of a clockwise-rotating lobe cell contained within the pre-noon dayside polar cap, with a flow reversal closely co-located with the high-latitude luminosity region. This pattern is largely consistent with recent theoretical predictions of the convection flow during northward IMF. We believe that this represents the first direct measurement of the convection flow at the imaged location of the footprint of the high-latitude reconnection site.  相似文献   

11.
Downward precipitating ions in the cusp regularly exhibit sudden changes in ion energy distributions, forming distinctive structures that can be used to study the temporal/spatial nature of reconnection at the magnetopause. When observed simultaneously with the Polar, FAST, and Interball satellites, such cusp structures revealed remarkably similar features. These similar features could be observed for up to several hours during stable solar wind conditions. Their similarities led to the conclusion that large-scale cusp structures are spatial structures related to global ionospheric convection patterns created by magnetic merging and not the result of temporal variations in reconnection parameters. The launch of the Cluster fleet allows cusp structures to be studied in great detail and during changing solar wind conditions using three spacecraft with identical plasma and field instrumentation. In addition, Cluster cusp measurements are linked with ionospheric convection cells by combining the satellite observations with SuperDARN radar observations that are used to derive the convection patterns in the ionosphere. The combination of satellite observations with ground-based observations during variable solar wind conditions shows that large-scale cusp structures can be either spatial or temporal. Cusp structures can be described as spatial features observed by satellites crossing into spatially separated flux tubes. Cusp structures can also be observed as poleward-traveling (temporal) features within the same convection cell, most probably caused by variations in the reconnection rate at the magnetopause.  相似文献   

12.
Results are presented from a multi-instrument investigation of the signatures of equatorial reconnection in the summer, sunlit ionosphere. Well-established ion dispersion signatures measured during three DMSP satellite passes were used to identify footprints in ionospheric observations made by radio tomography, and both the EISCAT ESR and mainland radars. Under the prevalent conditions of southward IMF with the Bz component increasing in magnitude, the reconnection footprint was seen to move equatorward through the ESR field-of-view. The most striking signature was in the electron temperatures of the F2 region measured by the EISCAT mainland radar that revealed significantly enhanced temperatures with a steep equatorward edge, in general agreement with the leading edge of the ion dispersion. It is suggested that this sharp transition in the electron temperature may be an indicator of the boundary, mapping from the reconnection site, between closed geomagnetic field lines and those opened along which magnetosheath ions precipitate.  相似文献   

13.
Simultaneous optical and radar signatures of poleward-moving auroral forms   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
Dayside poleward moving auroral forms (PMAFs) were detected between 06:30 and 07:00 UT on December 16, 1998, by the meridian scanning photometer and the all-sky camera at Ny Ålesund, Svalbard. Simultaneous SuperDARN HF radar measurements permitted the study of the associated ionospheric velocity pattern. A good general agreement is observed between the location and movement of velocity enhancements (flow channels) and the PMAFs. Clear signatures of equatorward flow were detected in the vicinity of PMAFs. This flow is believed to be the signature of a return flow outside the reconnected flux tube, as predicted by the Southwood model. The simulated signatures of this model reproduce globally the measured signatures, and differences with the experimental data can be explained by the simplifications of the model. Proposed schemes of the flow modification due to the presence of several flow channels and the modification of cusp and region 1 field-aligned currents at the time of sporadic reconnection events are shown to fit well with the observations.  相似文献   

14.
The effects of the characteristics of the interplanetary medium on the radar scattering occurrence, related to the whole array of SuperDARN radars installed in the Northern Hemisphere, have been studied over a two-year period. Statistically significant correlations of the variation of the scattering occurrence are found with the merging electric field and with the negative Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field, independent of the seasonal period considered. This result demonstrates that the merging rate (and in particular the reconnection process) between the interplanetary magnetic field and the magnetosphere is a relevant factor affecting the occurrence of scattering. For comparison, we note that no statistically significant correlations are obtained when the interplanetary ion density or the solar wind speed are considered, although also these variables affect to a small degree the scattering occurrence variation. The study of the latitudinal and magnetic local time dependence of the observations shows an association between the considered correlation and the location of the auroral oval and the cusp/cleft region.  相似文献   

15.
Results of simultaneous TV observations of pulsating auroral patches and ELF-VLF-emissions in the morning sector carried out in Sodankylä (Finland) on February 15, 1991 are presented. Auroral pulsating activity was typical having pulsating patches with characteristic periods of about 7 s. Narrow-band hiss emissions and chorus elements at intervals of 0.3–0.4 s formed the main ELF-VLF activity in the frequency range 1.0–2.5 kHz at the same time. The analysis of auroral images with time resolution of 0.04 s allowed perfectly separate analysis of spatial and temporal variations in the auroral luminosity. Mutual correspondence between the behaviour of the luminous auroral patches and the appearance of ELF noise type hiss emissions and VLF chorus trains was found in two intervals chosen for analysis. While the hiss emissions were associated with the appearance of luminosity inside a limited area close to the zenith, the structured VLF emissions were accompanied by rapid motion of luminosity inside the area. The spatial dimension of the pulsating area was about 45–50 km and luminosity propagated inside it with velocity of about 10–12 kms. We discuss a new approach to explain the 5–15 s auroral pulsation based on the theory of flowing cyclotron maser and relaxation characteristics of ionosphere.  相似文献   

16.
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.  相似文献   

17.
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.  相似文献   

18.
We present the ground signatures of dynamic substorm features with particular emphasis on the event interpretation capabilities provided by the IMAGE magnetometer network. This array covers the high latitudes from the sub-auroral to the cusp/cleft region. An isolated substorm on 11 Oct. 1993 during the late evening hours exhibited many of well-known features such as the Harang discontinuity, westward travelling surge and poleward leap, but also discrete auroral forms, known as auroral streamers, appeared propagating westward along the centre of the electrojet. Besides the magnetic field measurements, there were auroral observations and plasma flow and conductivity measurements obtained by EISCAT. The data of all three sets of instruments are consistent with the notion of upward field-aligned currents associated with the moving auroral patches. A detailed analysis of the electro-dynamic parameters in the ionosphere, however, reveals that they do not agree with the expectations resulting from commonly used simplifying approximations. For example, the westward moving auroral streamers which are associated with field-aligned current filaments, are not collocated with the centres of equivalent current vortices. Furthermore, there is a clear discrepancy between the measured plasma flow direction and the obtained equivalent current direction. All this suggests that steep conductivity gradients are associated with the transient auroral forms. Also self-induction effects in the ionosphere may play a role for the orientation of the plasma flows. This study stresses the importance of multi-instrument observation for a reliable interpretation of dynamic auroral processes.  相似文献   

19.
A study has been performed on the occurrence of pulsed ionospheric flows as detected by the CUTLASS Finland HF radar. These flows have been suggested as being created at the ionospheric footprint of newly-reconnected field lines, during episodes of magnetic flux transfer into the terrestrial magnetosphere (flux transfer events or FTEs). Two years of both high-time resolution and normal scan data from the CUTLASS Finland radar have been analysed in order to perform a statistical study of the extent and location of the pulsed ionospheric flows. We note a great similarity between the statistical pattern of the coherent radar observations of pulsed ionospheric flows and the traditional low-altitude satellite identification of the particle signature associated with the cusp/cleft region. However, the coherent scatter radar observations suggest that the merging gap is far wider than that proposed by the Newell and Meng model. The new model for cusp low-altitude particle signatures, proposed by Lockwood and Onsager and Lockwood provides a unified framework to explain the dayside precipitation regimes observed both by the low-altitude satellites and by coherent scatter radar detection.  相似文献   

20.
A poleward-progressing 630 nm optical feature is observed between approximately 0100 UT and 0230 UT (0400 MLT to 0530 MLT) by a meridian-scanning photometer (MSP) located at Ny Alesund, Svalbard. Simultaneous coherent HF radar measurements indicate a region of poleward-expanding back-scatter with rapid sunward plasma flow velocity along the MSP meridian. Spatial maps of the backscatter indicate a stationary backscatter feature aligned obliquely with respect to the MSP meridian, which produces an impression of poleward-expansion as the MSP progresses to later MLT. Two interpretations of the observations are possible, depending on whether the arc system is considered to move (time-dependent) or to be stationary in time and apparent motion is produced as the MSP meridian rotates underneath it (time-independent). The first interpretation is as a poleward motion of an east-west aligned auroral arc. In this case the appearance of the region of backscatter is not associated with the optical feature, though the velocities within it are enhanced when the two are co-located. The second interpretation is as a polar arc or theta aurora, common features of the polar cap under the prevailing IMF northwards conditions. In this case the backscatter appears as an approximately 150 km wide region adjacent to the optical arc. In both interpretations the luminosity of the optical feature appears related to the magnitude of the plasma flow velocity. The optical features presented here do not generate appreciable HF coherent backscatter, and are only identifiable in the backscatter data as a modification of the flow by the arc electrodynamics.  相似文献   

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