| 1. |
- Aikio, A T, et al.
(author)
-
On the origin of the high-altitude electric field fluctuations in the auroral zone
- 1996
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 101:A12, s. 27157-27170
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Intense fluctuations in the electric field at high altitudes in the auroral zone are frequently measured by the Viking satellite. We have made an analysis of the origin of electric and magnetic fluctuations in the frequency range of 0.1 - 1 Hz by assuming four different sources for the signals: (I) spatial structures, (2) spatial structures with a parallel potential drop below the satellite, (3) traveling; shear Alfven waves, and (4) interfering shear Alfven waves. We will shaw that these different sources of the signals may produce similar amplitude ratios and phase differences between the perpendicular electric and magnetic fields. Since the different sources have different frequency dependencies, this can be used as an additional test if the signals are broadband. In other cases, additional information is needed, for example, satellite particle measurements or ground; magnetic measurements. The ideas presented in the theory were tested for one Viking eveningside pass over Scandinavia, where ground-based magnetometer and EISCAT radar measurements were available. The magnetic conditions were active during this pass and several interfering shear Alfven waves were found. Also, a spatial structure with a parallel potential drop below the satellite was identified. The magnitude of the 10-km-wide potential drop was at least 2 kV and the upward field-aligned current 26 mu A m(-2) (value mapped to the ionospheric level). The held-aligned conductance was estimated as 1.3 - 2.2x10(-8) S m(-2).
|
|
| 2. |
- Alm, Love, et al.
(author)
-
Electron density and parallel electric field distribution of the auroral density cavity
- 2015
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 120:11, s. 9428-9441
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present an event study in which Cluster satellites C1 and C3 encounters the flux tube of a stable auroral arc in the pre-midnight sector. C1 observes the mid cavity, while C3 enters the flux tube of the auroral arc at an altitude which is below the acceleration region, before crossing into the top half of the acceleration region. This allows us to study the boundary between the ionosphere and the density cavity, as well as large portion of the upper density cavity. The position of the two satellites, in relation to the acceleration region, is described using a pseudo altitude derived from the distribution of the parallel potential drop above and below the satellites.The electron density exhibits an anti-correlation with the pseudo altitude, indicating that the lowest electron densities are found near the top of the density cavity. Over the entire pseudo altitude range, the electron density distribution is similar to a planar sheath, formed out of a plasma sheet dominated electron distribution, in response to the parallel electric field of the acceleration region. This indicates that the parallel electric fields on the ionosphere-cavity boundary, as well as the mid cavity parallel electric fields, are part of one unified structure rather than two discrete entities.The results highlight the strong connection between the auroral density cavity and auroral acceleration as well as the necessity of studying them in a unified fashion.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Brenning, Nils, et al.
(author)
-
Interpretation of the Electric Fields Measured in an Ionospheric Critical Ionization Velocity Experiment
- 1991
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 96, s. 9719-9733
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper deals with the quasi-dc electric fields measured in the CRIT I ionospheric release experiment, which was launched from Wallops Island on May 13, 1986. The purpose of the experiment was to study the critical ionization velocity (CIV) mechanism in the ionosphere. Two identical barium shaped charges were fired from distances of 1.99 km and 4.34 km towards a main payload, which made full three-dimensional measurements of the electric field inside the streams. There was also a subpayload separated from the main payload by a couple of kilometers along the magnetic field. The relevance of earlier proposed mechanisms for electron heating in CIV is investigated in the light of the CRIT I results. It is concluded that both the “homogeneous” and the “ionizing front” models probably apply, but in different parts of the stream. It is also possible that electrons are directly accelerated by a magnetic-field-aligned component of the electric field; the quasi-dc electric field observed within the streams had a large magnetic-field-aligned component, persisting on the time scale of the passage of the streams. The coupling between the ambient ionosphere and the ionized barium stream in CRIT I was more complicated than is usually assumed in CIV theories, with strong magnetic-field-aligned electric fields and probably current limitation as important processes. One interpretation of the quasi-dc electric field data is that the internal electric fields of the streams were not greatly modified by magnetic-field-aligned currents, i.e., a state was established where the transverse currents were to a first approximation divergence-free. It is argued that this interpretation can explain both a reversal of the strong explosion-directed electric field in burst 1 and the absence of such a reversal in burst 2.
|
|
| 5. |
- Eriksson, Stefan, et al.
(author)
-
Lobe cell convection and field-aligned currents poleward of the region 1 current system
- 2002
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 107:A8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- [1] We present a case and statistical study of plasma convection in the Northern Hemisphere during summer conditions using electric field, magnetic field, and particle data taken during dawn-dusk directed orbits of the FAST satellite. To our knowledge, this set provides the most comprehensive combination of data as yet presented in support of lobe cell convection from an ionospheric perspective this far from the noon sector. In particular, we study the current systems and convection patterns for all passes in July 1997 that show evidence for six large-scale field-aligned currents (FACs) rather than the usual system of four FACs associated with the region 1/region 2 current systems. A total of 71 passes out of 232 in the study had the extra pair of FACs. The extra pair of FACs in 30 of the 71 cases lies either on the dawnside or on the duskside of the noon-midnight meridian, and their position is strongly correlated with the polarity of the IMF By (negative and positive, respectively). This is consistent with the IMF dependence of a three-cell convection pattern of coexisting merging, viscous, and lobe-type convection cells. The occurrence of the asymmetric FAC pair was also strongly linked to conditions of IMF |B-y/B-z | > 1. The extra pair of FACs in these cases was clearly associated with the lobe cell of the three-cell convection system. The remaining 41 cases had the pair of FACs straddling the noon-midnight meridian. The extra pair of FACs was often (20 cases out of 30) observed at magnetic local times more than three hours away from noon, rather than being confined to regions near noon and the typical location of the cusp. Such a current system consisting of a pair of FACs poleward of the nearest region 1 current is consistent with the IMF B-y-dependent global MHD model developed by Ogino et al. [1986] for southward IMF conditions, as well as with other magnetospheric and ionospheric convection models that include the effects of merging occuring simultaneously at both low-latitude dayside and high-latitude lobe and flank magnetopause reconnection sites. Finally, the presence of the additional FACs and three-cell convection well away from noon show that the entire dayside ionosphere is affected by IMF-dependent processes, rather than only a limited region around noon.
|
|
| 6. |
- Feldstein, Y I, et al.
(author)
-
Electromagnetic characteristics of the high-latitude ionosphere during the various phases of magnetic substorms
- 1996
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 101:A9, s. 19921-19936
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Model calculations of the electrodynamics of the high-latitude ionosphere are compared to measurements made by the Viking satellite during July-August 1986. The model calculations are based on the IZMEM procedure, where the electric field and currents in the ionosphere are given as functions of the interplanetary magnetic field. The events chosen correspond to the growth, the expansion, and the recovery phases of substorms. During the growth and expansion phases the correlation between the model results and the satellite data is rather good. During recovery phase the correlation is not as good. The correlation between modeled and observed quantities suggest that during growth and expansion phase the magnetosphere is mainly directly driven by the solar wind, whereas during recovery phase it is mainly driven by internal processes, i.e., loading-unloading. Best fit is obtained when averaging the measured quantities over a few minutes, which means adjusting the spatial resolution of the measurements to the resolution of the model. Different time delays between the interplanetary magnetic field observations and those of Viking were examined. Best agreement was obtained, not surprisingly, for time delays corresponding to the estimated information transit time from the solar wind spacecraft to the ionosphere.
|
|
| 7. |
- Forsyth, C., et al.
(author)
-
Temporal evolution and electric potential structure of the auroral acceleration region from multispacecraft measurements
- 2012
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 117:12, s. A12203-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Bright aurorae can be excited by the acceleration of electrons into the atmosphere in violation of ideal magnetohydrodynamics. Modeling studies predict that the accelerating electric potential consists of electric double layers at the boundaries of an acceleration region but observations suggest that particle acceleration occurs throughout this region. Using multispacecraft observations from Cluster, we have examined two upward current regions on 14 December 2009. Our observations show that the potential difference below C4 and C3 changed by up to 1.7 kV between their respective crossings, which were separated by 150 s. The field-aligned current density observed by C3 was also larger than that observed by C4. The potential drop above C3 and C4 was approximately the same in both crossings. Using a novel technique of quantitively comparing the electron spectra measured by Cluster 1 and 3, which were separated in altitude, we determine when these spacecraft made effectively magnetically conjugate observations, and we use these conjugate observations to determine the instantaneous distribution of the potential drop in the AAR. Our observations show that an average of 15% of the potential drop in the AAR was located between C1 at 6235 km and C3 at 4685 km altitude, with a maximum potential drop between the spacecraft of 500 V, and that the majority of the potential drop was below C3. Assuming a spatial invariance along the length of the upward current region, we discuss these observations in terms of temporal changes and the vertical structure of the electrostatic potential drop and in the context of existing models and previous single- and multispacecraft observations.
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Marklund, Göran, et al.
(author)
-
Cluster observations of an auroral potential and associated field-aligned current reconfiguration during thinning of the plasma sheet boundary layer
- 2007
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 112:1, s. 10.1029/2006JA011804-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cluster observations are used to illustrate the reconfiguration of an auroral potential structure encountered at the poleward boundary of the central plasma sheet within the Southern Hemisphere premidnight auroral oval. The reconfiguration from a symmetric U shape to an asymmetric S shape takes place between two consecutive crossings by Cluster spacecraft 1 and 2, moving along roughly the same orbits and separated in time by 16 min. During this time the plasma conditions poleward of the boundary changed dramatically. The fluxes of energetic electrons decreased, as did the intensities of the associated small-scale field-aligned currents (FACs) and the ambient plasma density. These changes were particularly pronounced in a narrow region adjacent to the boundary. The reconfiguration of the potential structure, and of the associated FAC system consistent with this, are consistent with the predictions by Marklund et al. (2004).
|
|
| 10. |
- Marklund, Göran, et al.
(author)
-
Observations of the electric field fine structure associated with the westward traveling surge and large-scale auroral spirals
- 1998
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 103:A3, s. 4125-4144
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The characteristics of the fine scale electric field associated with the westward traveling surge and large-scale auroral spirals and surges are investigated using high-resolution electric field, magnetic field, particle and UV imager observations from four eveningside auroral oval crossings by the Freja satellite. Three of the crossings were associated with signatures of auroral substorms and one crossing went directly through the head of a surge close in time and space to substorm onset. Three passes were adjacent to auroral spiral formations, one poleward of and one equatorward of such forms and one through the multiple arc region near the front of an extended region of auroral activity. The ambient electric field was found to intensify in the direction toward the spiral head (or the center of the auroral activity region) over a region comparable to the size of the visible auroral forms. These results confirm previous findings that the spiral or surge head is associated with negative space charge and an intense upward field-aligned current. The fourth pass, directly through the surge head reveals a very complicated structure of the surge region. Narrowly structured, intense (up to 700 mV/m) and mostly converging electric fields associated with intense electron precipitation (of both high and medium energies) and balanced field-aligned currents (up to 30 μA/m2) are seen near the edge of the surge head and adjacent to auroral structures in the wake. These narrow regions are embedded within more extended regions of intense high-energy electron precipitation but very weak electric fields and field-aligned currents. According to some existing models of the surge, a pronounced westward electric field component and a southward polarisation electric field is expected within the entire high-conductivity region but evidence in support of this was not found in the data. Rather, these suggest that a significant part of the upward surge current is closed by distributed downward field-aligned currents from the near surroundings. The Freja electric field is typically seen to intensify at the edges of or in-between bright auroral structures and to decrease within the arcs similar to what is observed in the ionosphere. The surge electric field is, however, much more intense than previously observed or anticipated at these altitudes with characteristics rather similar to those observed in the auroral acceleration region. Since the particle data indicate that most of the acceleration takes place above Freja altitudes, it seems as if Freja traversed the lower part of the auroral acceleration region associated with the surge.
|
|
