M. Itonaga

Reflection of shear Alfvén waves at the ionosphere and the divergent Hall current

A general expression for the reflection and mode conversion of MHD waves at the ionosphere is derived. On the basis of the expression, the effect of ionospheric divergent Hall current (Hall part of the induction current associated with the inductive electric field of fast magnetosonic wave) on localized toroidal oscillation is examined. When the horizontal scale of localized oscillation is of the order of several times of the height of ionosphere, the inductive electric field can play a significant role in the reflection of shear Alfven waves with longer periods (e.g., ∼100 s) in the high-latitude region, especially, in the auroral zone. Then, the contribution of the divergent Hall current to the field-aligned one can be no longer neglected and so the eigenfrequency of localized toroidal oscillation is effectively controlled by the height-integrated Hall conductivity in the ionosphere.

Ionospheric control of polarization of low-latitude geomagnetic micropulsations at sunrise

Abstract Continuous observations of low-latitude Pc3 and Pc4 geomagnetic micropulsations were carried out at ASO (22.0°N, 198.0° geomagnetic coordinates) from November 1979 to July 1980 to confirm the ionospheric control of polarization characteristics of low-latitude pulsations presented by Saka etal. (1980). The present study confirms the previous result that D-component amplitude starts to increase with sunrise. From the present study, the following results are obtained : (1) the D-component amplitude, which is much smaller than the H-component amplitude before sunrise, increases as much as that of the H-component after sunrise, and this brings about the tilting of the major axis of the polarization ellipse from north to northwest; (2) the onset-time of the D-component increment (or tilting of the major axis) coincides with the appearance of the E-layer in the ionosphere within an hour, and the time of the coincidence shifts from season to season, in parallel with the change of sunrise ; and (3) the ellipticity of the polarization in the horizontal plane is not affected appreciably by sunrise. It is suggested that the Hall conductivity increment associated with the E-layer sunrise enhancement affects the characteristics of the D-component on the ground.

TRANSIENT RESPONSE OF THE NON-UNIFORM EQUATORIAL IONOSPHERE TO COMPRESSIONAL MHD WAVES

Abstract By assuming a realistic distribution of the height-integrated Cowling conductivity along the noon meridian, the transient response of the non-uniform equatorial ionosphere to plane compressional MHD waves is examined numerically. The direct incidence of an SC-type disturbance (or DL -field) on the ionosphere produces no preliminary reverse impulse (PRI) changes around the dayside equator, supporting the view that the equatorial PRI is caused by an extension of the ionospheric current responsible for the high-latitude PRI. The rise of the ground DL -field at the dip equator lags behind those in the off-equatorial region. This is a new finding which has not yet been reported observationally. When a magnetic pulsation is incident on the dayside ionosphere, the phase of the ground magnetic perturbation at the dip equator also lags behind those in the off-equatorial region. The phase lag at the dip equator obtained numerically agrees approximately with those observed for daytime Pi2 pulsations. However, the amplitude of the ground magnetic perturbation obtained numerically is depressed at the dip equator. Such a depression is contrary to the observational fact that the pulsation amplitude is enhanced at the dayside equator. Since there exists a sharp increase of the ionospheric zonal current at the dayside equator, the Pi2 pulsations around the dayside equator may also be due to the ionospheric current of polar origin.