Desheng Han

Observational properties of dayside throat aurora and implications on the possible generation mechanisms

Observational properties of throat aurora are investigated in detail by using 7 year continuous auroral observations obtained at Yellow River Station (magnetic latitude 76.24°N). From our inspection, throat aurora is often observed under the condition of stripy diffuse aurora contacting with the persistent discrete auroral oval, and the long-period throat aurora observations generally consist of intermittent subsequences of throat aurora brightening followed by poleward moving auroral form and throat aurora dimming. We also noticed that the orientation of throat aurora is aligned along the ionospheric convection flow, and its local time distribution shows clear dependence on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) By component. These observational results indicate that factors inside the magnetosphere may play important role on occurrence of throat aurora. We thus suggest that throat aurora may present the ionospheric signature of redistribution of reconnection rate on the magnetopause by cold magnetospheric plasma flowing into the reconnection site. In addition, we also found that the occurrence rate of throat aurora clearly decreases with increase of the IMF cone angle (arccos(|Bx|/B)), which is very similar with the occurrence rate of high-speed jet (HSJ) observed in magnetosheath depending on the IMF cone angle. This is suggested as that the HSJs occurred outside the magnetosphere may also play important role for generation of throat aurora by triggering magnetopause reconnection or by direct impacting. Although further studies are needed to clarify how the throat auroras are generated in detail, the relevant observations about throat aurora have presented important implications on a variety open questions, such as distribution and generation of cold plasma structures in the outer magnetosphere, magnetopause deformation, and possible relation between HSJ and reconnection.

An extensive survey of dayside diffuse aurora based on optical observations at Yellow River Station

By using 7 years optical auroral observations obtained at Yellow River Station (magnetic latitude 76.24°N) at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, we performed the first extensive survey for the dayside diffuse auroras (DDAs) and acquired observational results as follows. (1) The DDAs can be classified into two broad categories, i.e., unstructured and structured DDAs. The unstructured DDAs are mainly distributed in morning and afternoon, but the structured DDAs predominantly occurred around the magnetic local noon (MLN). (2) The unstructured DDAs observed in morning and afternoon present obviously different properties. The afternoon ones are much stable and seldom show pulsating property. (3) The DDAs are more easily observed under geomagnetically quiet times. (4) The structured DDAs mainly show patchy, stripy, and irregular forms and are often pulsating and drifting. The drifting directions are mostly westward (with speed ~5 km/s), but there are cases showing eastward or poleward drifting. (5) The stripy DDAs are exclusively observed near the MLN and, most importantly, their alignments are confirmed to be consistent with the direction of ionospheric convection near the MLN. (6) A new auroral form, called throat aurora, is found to be developed from the stripy DDAs. Based on the observational results and previous studies, we proposed our explanations to the DDAs. We suggest that the unstructured DDAs observed in the morning are extensions of the nightside diffuse aurora to the dayside, but that observed in the afternoon are predominantly caused by proton precipitations. The structured DDAs occurred near the MLN are caused by interactions of cold plasma structures, which are supposed to be originated from the ionospheric outflows or plasmaspheric drainage plumes, with hot electrons from the plasma sheet. We suppose that the cold plasma structures for producing the patchy DDAs are in lumpy and are more likely from the plasmaspheric drainage plumes. The cold plasma structure for producing the stripy DDAs should be in wedge like and is generated by conveying the cold plasmas from lower L-shell toward higher L-shell with magnetospheric convection, and that for producing the irregular DDAs is resulted from deforming the wedge-like structure by disturbance. The throat aurora is supposed to be projection of a newly opened flux of reconnection. In addition, we also found that structured DDAs correspond to structured electron precipitations in the ionosphere, which implies that the cold plasma structures in the magnetosphere are magnetically mapped to the ionosphere and act as a duct for producing the structured DDAs. We argue that we have presented some new observational results about DDA in this paper, which will be useful for fully understanding the DDAs.

Comparative study of Geomagnetic Sudden Commencement (SC) between Oersted and ground observations at different local times

Oersted is a low-altitude (638-849 km) polar-orbiting satellite. Using vector magnetic field measurements obtained from Oersted, we identified more than 20 geomagnetic sudden commencement (SC) events on both dayside (0600-1800 MLT) and nightside (1800-0600 MLT). The unique properties reflected by these events have never been reported before. The SCs observed by Oersted in the B // (compressional) component on the nightside had the nearly same waveforms as those observed on the ground in the H (northward) component. We suggest that the SCs observed by Oersted on the nightside were dominantly caused by the enhanced magnetopause currents, which were transmitted by the compressional hydromagnetic waves, and the effects of the ionospheric current (IC) were negligible on the nightside. The SC waveforms observed by Oersted on the dayside were apparently different from those observed on the ground. Near the dayside dip equator (DDE), corresponding to preliminary reverse impulses (PRIs) observed in the ground H component, Oersted always observed positive impulses in the B // component, which suggest that the PRIs at the DDE are generated by westward ICs. On the dayside, corresponding to positive main impulses (MIs) of SCs observed in the ground H component, the Oersted B // component always presented clear decreases, which implies that an eastward IC was excited after the PRI. The generation mechanism for the westward and eastward ICs are discussed according to previously proposed models. On the dayside, we suggest that the waveforms observed both on the ground and at Oersted during the time period of PRI and MI were superposition of the incident compressional waves and the disturbance fields caused by the ICs. The features observed by Oersted just above the ionosphere are significant complementary to our empirical knowledge for SCs.

Local time dependence of the frequency of Pi2 waves simultaneously observed at 5 low-latitude stations

One-second resolution geomagnetic data from 5 stations located at low-latitudes (i.e., L = 1.2 ~ 1.6) were used to examine the local time dependence of the dominant frequency of Pi2 pulsations. We analyzed 183 Pi2 events simultaneously recorded at the 5 stations and discussed their possible generation mechanisms. The averaged dominant frequency of the H (horizontal) component is higher on the dawn side than that on the dusk side and shows a peak value in the post-midnight at around 03 LT, which confirms the LT dependence previously suggested from single station data (i.e., non-simultaneous observation). However, some of the events have no LT dependence. For the events which show the LT dependence at low-latitudes, we infer that the cavity resonance mode is a plausible generation mechanism, but we do not rule out the possibility of the plasmaspheric surface wave mode which has also been suggested. For the events having a common frequency between the eastern and western stations, we suggest the cavity resonance mode to be the mechanism. The averaged dominant frequency of the D component does not show any clear LT dependence, and only about 20% of Pi2s have identical frequency for both the H and D components, therefore we suggest that the H and D oscillations of Pi2s are generated from different mechanisms. We also found that the frequency of different parts of a Pi2 pulsation, i.e., the dominant frequency for leading part and trailing part of the pulsation, is different, and the frequency of the trailing part is lower than that of the leading part.

Simultaneous ground-based optical and SuperDARN observations of the shock aurora at MLT noon

Using ground-based high temporal and spatial optical aurora observations, we investigated one fortuitous event to illustrate the direct responses of the fine structure auroral emission to interplanetary shock on 7 January 2005. During the shock impact to the magnetosphere, the Chinese Arctic Yellow River Station (YRS) equipped with all-sky imagers (ASIs) was situated at the magnetic local noon region (~1210 MLT) in the Northern Hemisphere, while the SuperDARN CUTLASS Finland HF radar covering the field of view (FOV) of the ASIs at YRS had fine ionospheric plasma convection measurement. We observed that an intensified red aurora manifesting as a discrete emission band at a higher latitude responds to the shock impact gradually, which results in a distinct broadening of the dayside auroral oval due to the equatorward shifting of its lower latitude boundary after the shock arrival. In contrast, the green diffuse aurora, manifesting as a relatively uniform luminosity structure, reacts immediately to the shock compression, displaying prompt appearance in the southern edge of the FOV and subsequent poleward propagation of its higher latitude boundary. Simultaneously, the CUTLASS Finland radar monitored enhanced backscatter echo power and increased echo number, which coincided with intensified discrete aurora in approximately the same latitudinal region. Doppler velocity measurement showed moving ionospheric irregularities with generally enhanced line-of-sight (LOS) speed, but with prominent sunward flow in the polar cap and antisunward flow in both the eastern and western regions. The SuperDARN global ionospheric convection pattern clearly presented a large-scale plasma flow divided in four circulation cells, with two reversed flow cells nested in the noon sector of the polar cap. These direct observations strongly suggest that the prompt shock compression intensified the wave-particle interaction in the inner magnetosphere and enhanced the lobe magnetic reconnection rate at magnetospheric high latitude.

Modulation of the dayside diffuse auroral intensity by the solar wind dynamic pressure

Compared to the recently improved understanding of the nightside diffuse aurora, the mechanism(s) responsible for the dayside diffuse auroral precipitation remains limitedly understood. We investigate the dayside diffuse aurora observed by the all-sky imagers of Chinese Arctic Yellow River Station in the time interval of 02:00–10:00 UT (05:00–13:00 magnetic local time) on 2 January 2006. In this interval, the intensity of dayside diffuse aurora is highly correlated with the solar wind dynamic pressure with a maximum coefficient of 0.89. Moreover, there are similar spectra characteristics in the Pc5 range between the intensity of dayside diffuse aurora and solar wind dynamic pressure (proton density) during a portion of the time interval, in which the interplanetary magnetic field Bz is northward. The observation indicates that changes in solar wind dynamic pressure can efficiently modulate the magnitude of the dayside diffuse aurora, except when the interplanetary magnetic field is southward. The enhancement of the solar wind dynamic pressure can provide favorable circumstances for dayside chorus wave generation, so we consider that the dayside chorus could be a candidate for the production of the dayside diffuse aurora. Furthermore, since the compressional Pc4-Pc5 pulsations can also modulate the intensity of whistler mode chorus waves, the solar wind dynamic pressure modulates the dayside diffuse aurora through affecting dayside chorus wave activity and the associated scattering process.

Geomagnetic sudden commencement at the dawn-time dip equator

Waveform of geomagnetic sudden commencement (SC) on the ground depends on both latitude and local time (LT). Using high-resolution (1 s) geomagnetic field measurements obtained at Jicamarca (JIC, MAGLAT = 0.0°) from 1998 to 2005, we examined the waveforms of 188 SC events and found that some of the SCs observed at nighttime (approx. 22-05 LT) and dawn time (approx. 05-07 LT) had a common observational feature, i.e., a positive impulse always appeared at the beginning of the main impulse of the SC, which led to these events show preliminary positive impulse (PPI) or ‘Stepwise’ structure in the waveforms. In particular, the occurrence rate of the PPI/Stepwise events at the dawn time was clearly higher than that at the nighttime. This is the first complete report of this observational feature for the SCs observed at the dip equator. Based on a comparison of our observations with the previously proposed model calculation of Kikuchi et al. (2001), we suggest that the PPI/Stepwise events observed at the dawn-time dip equator reflect the effects of the ionospheric currents (ICs) and field-aligned currents (FACs). We therefore argue that this observational result provides evidence for the validity of the model calculation.

Magnetic ramp scale at supercritical perpendicular collisionless shocks: Full particle electromagnetic simulations

Supercritical perpendicular collisionless shocks are known to exhibit foot, ramp, and overshoot structures. The shock ramp structure is in a smaller scale in contrast to other microstructures (foot and overshoot) within the shock front. One-dimensional full particle simulations of strictly perpendicular shocks over wide ranges of ion beta βi, Alfven Mach number MA, and ion-to-electron mass ratio mi/me are presented to investigate the impact of plasma parameters on the shock ramp scale. Main results are (1) the ramp scale can be as small as several electron inertial length. (2) The simulations suggest that in a regime below the critical ion beta value, the shock front undergoes a periodic self-reformation and the shock ramp scale is time-varying. At higher ion beta values, the shock front self-reformation is smeared. At still higher ion beta value, the motion of reflected ions is quite diffuse so that they can lead to a quasi-steady shock ramp. Throughout the above three conditions, the shock ramp thicknes...

Local differences in great magnetic storms observed at middle and low latitudes

The dependence of the storm-time amplitude on longitude and latitude was analyzed by statistically investigating great magnetic storms observed at different observatories. First, we compared the storm-time ranges observed at Beijing Observatory (BJI) and San Juan Observatory (SJG) to reveal their longitudinal dependence. It was found that the difference between BJI and SJG could be fitted by the 4-order Fourier series approximation, and the storm-time H ranges at dawn were less than those at dusk. Second, we carried out a case study of two typical storms, and analyzed the focused local time when peak storm-time H ranges occurred. The results confirmed the above conclusion. Third, a statistical study was conducted for all magnetic storms observed at the 120°E magnetic chain in eastern China for 1995–2004 to reveal the latitudinal dependence of storm-time ranges. It was found the relationship depended on the activity of analyzed storms and became complicated for giant storms with Dst ≤ −300 nT.

Dynamic Properties of Throat Aurora Revealed by Simultaneous Ground and Satellite Observations

Throat aurora is defined as south-north aligned auroral arcs equatorward of the dayside cusp aurora and was suggested to be the results of cold magnetospheric plasma interaction with magnetopause reconnection [Han et al., 2015], but its observational properties have not yet been well established. In this paper we carefully examine a sequence of throat auroras observed over Svalbard on 27 December 2003. Observations from 630.0 nm [OI] show that poleward moving throat auroras frequently show brightening followed by dimming in auroral intensity, and sometimes, the brightening throat aurora is a precursor of poleward-moving auroral forms. Simultaneous all-sky images and HF radar backscatter observations along geomagnetic meridian show that the throat aurora brightening is drifting with ionospheric E × B convection and is co-located with enhanced spectral width poleward of the convection reversal boundary (CRB), while its dimming tends to be in the vicinity of the CRB. This leads us to propose that the throat aurora brightening and dimming may be on the open and closed field lines, respectively. Particle data from NOAA-16 confirms that the dimming throat aurora is associated with precipitation of magnetosheath-like particles mixed with magnetospheric ions (>30 keV), which is characteristic of the low-latitude boundary layer. For particle data from DMSP F16, we notice that the dimming throat aurora is associated with lower fluxes of magnetosheath-like electrons accompanied with magnetospheric electrons, which is most likely on closed field lines. The dynamic properties of throat aurora presented in this paper are thus important to understand its generation mechanisms.