Search

Using experimental data from the Cutlass Super-DARN HF radars and from a subset of ground magnetometers of the IMAGE Scandinavian chain, the response of the ionosphere in the noon sector to a solar wind pressure increase is studied. The emphasis is on the signature of the convection vortices and of the Hall currents that are associated with the pair of opposite parallel currents flowing along the morning and afternoon high-latitude magnetic field lines. We show that the sudden commencement is characterised by an equatorward convection, immediately followed (within less than 3 min) by a strong poleward plasma motion. These results are shown to agree qualitatively with the global model of sudden commencement of Araki (1994).Key words. Ionosphere (plasma convection; electric fields and currents) – Magnetospheric physics (solar wind-magnetosphere interactions)

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.Key words: Ionosphere (auroral ionosphere; plasma convection) - Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause; cusp and boundary layers)

We report observations of the cusp/cleft ionosphere made on December 16th 1998 by the EISCAT (European incoherent scatter) VHF radar at Tromsø 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.Key words: Ionosphere (ionosphere - magnetosphere interactions; auroral ionosphere; plasma temperature and density)

Simultaneous measurements of the fine structure of the topside F-region electron density and the ELF hiss wave characteristics, carried out aboard the Aureol/Arcad 3 satellite, provide evidence of an efficient ducting mechanism produced by crests of ionization. The horizontal size of these plasma ducts lies, typically, in the range 5-50 km. The shape of the density structures as well as the wave propagation characteristics exhibit a well-marked difference between the inner and outer sides of the equatorward boundary of the mid-latitude ionospheric trough. Moreover, the observation of small scale plasma instabilities and electrostatic turbulence, occurring usually on the flanks of density enhancements, strongly suggests that the ducts are convecting structures assumed to be created in the auroral zone. 14 references.

The nonlinear interaction between two parallel high-frequency electromagnetic waves can generate either an electron plasma wave or an extraordinary wave, depending upon the angle of propagation with the external magnetic field (either θ ≃0 or θ≠0). When propagating in the inhomogeneous ionosphere the extraordinary mode couples to the plasma wave and the results obtained in both cases turn out to be identical. The plasma wave can be detected from the ground through the enhancement of the amplitude of the plasma lines associated with the scattered spectrum of a third electromagnetic probing wave. The amplitude of the electrostatic plasma wave, and of the scattered plasma lines, are calculated. The rendezvous conditions (in time and in space) between the plasma wave pulse and the probing pulse are evaluated and discussed for the Eiscat sounder.

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)

We analyse two crossings of the polar cusp at mid-altitudes (≈4 RE) by Cluster in order to study the structure of field-aligned currents associated with the injection of magnetosheath plasma. The current density is deduced independently from magnetic field and from particle flux measurements. In both cases the data are carefully tested. Magnetic fluctuations are analysed by discriminating between those compatible with the plane current sheet hypothesis under which the current density can be calculated safely, and those resulting from filamentary current structures. At medium transverse scales (80 km), the structure of the currents is more often tube-like than sheet-like, and current sheets are not systematically elongated in the east-west direction. The total particle current is calculated from the electron and ion measurements. For electrons, the full energy range is taken into account, from above the photoelectron threshold up to 32 keV. Magnetosheath plasma injections are well correlated with pairs of field-aligned currents. In both cases, the parallel current is mainly carried by electrons while ions contribute for about 20%. In the plane current sheets, the ratio between magnetic and particle currents shows large variations between 0.4 and 1.1. These fluctuations can be explained by the convective motion of the current sheets.

The MHD turbulence driven by time-varying field-aligned currents is calculated. It is shown that a current pulse with a parallel velocity of the order of or smaller than the Alfven velocity can generate kinetic Alfven waves. These results are applied to the interpretation of magnetic pulses observed in the auroral zone by low-altitude polar satellites. They provide a challenge to the usual interpretation in terms of a crossing by the spacecraft of static structures of thin parallel-current sheets. It must be stressed that the field-aligned current densities necessary to explain the observed magnitude of the magnetic turbulence are smaller for a time-dependent than for a static model.