Michael H. Denton

Relativistic‐electron dropouts and recovery: A superposed epoch study of the magnetosphere and the solar wind

During 124 high-speed-stream-driven storms from two solar cycles, a multispacecraft average of the 1.1–1.5 MeV electron flux measured at geosynchronous orbit is examined to study global dropouts of the flux. Solar wind and magnetospheric measurements are analyzed with a superposed epoch technique, with the superpositions triggered by storm-convection onset, by onset of the relativistic-electron dropouts, and by recovery of the dropouts. It is found that the onset of dropout occurs after the passage of the IMF sector reversal prior to the passage of the corotating interaction region (CIR) stream interface. The recovery from dropout commences during the passage of the compressed fast wind. Relativistic-electron-dropout onset is temporally associated with the onset of the superdense ion and electron plasma sheet, with the onset of the extra-hot ion and electron plasma sheet and with the formation of the plasmaspheric drainage plume. Dropout recovery is associated with the termination of the superdense plasma sheet and with a decay of the plasmaspheric drainage plume. When there is appreciable spatial overlap of the superdense ion plasma sheet with the drainage plume, dropouts occur, and when that overlap ends, dropouts recover. This points to pitch-angle scattering by electromagnetic ion-cyclotron (EMIC) waves as the primary cause of the relativistic-electron dropouts, with the waves residing in the lumpy drainage plumes driven by the superdense ion plasma sheet. The drainage plume is caused by enhanced magnetospheric convection associated with southward (GSM) magnetic field after the IMF sector reversal. The superdense plasma sheet has its origin in the compressed slow wind of the CIR.

Energetic electron precipitation during high‐speed solar wind stream driven storms

Electron precipitation from the Earths inner magnetosphere transmits solar variability to the Earths upper atmosphere and may affect surface level climate. Here we conduct a superposed epoch analysis of energetic electrons observed by the NOAA POES spacecraft during 42 high-speed solar wind stream (HSS) driven geomagnetic storms to determine the temporal evolution and global distribution of the precipitating flux. The flux of trapped and precipitating E > 30 keV electrons increases immediately following storm onset and remains elevated during the passage of the HSS. In contrast, the trapped and precipitating relativistic electrons (E > 1 MeV) drop out following storm onset and subsequently increase during the recovery phase to levels which eventually exceed the prestorm levels. There is no evidence for enhanced precipitation of relativistic electrons during the MeV flux drop out, suggesting that flux drop outs during the main phase of HSS-driven storms are not due to precipitation to the atmosphere. On average, the flux of precipitating E > 30 keV electrons is enhanced by a factor of similar to 10 during the passage of the high-speed stream at all geographic longitudes. In contrast, the precipitating relativistic electron count rate is observed to peak in the region poleward of the South Atlantic Anomaly. During the passage of the high-speed stream, the flux of precipitating E > 30 keV electrons peaks in the region from 2100 to 1200 magnetic local time at low L (4 30 keV electrons in both regions.

Electron loss rates from the outer radiation belt caused by the filling of the outer plasmasphere: The calm before the storm

Measurements from seven spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit are analyzed to determine the decay rate of the number density of the outer electron radiation belt prior to the onset of high-speed-stream-driven geomagnetic storms. Superposed-data analysis is used with a collection of 124 storms. When there is a calm before the storm, the electron number density decays exponentially before the storm with a 3.4-day e-folding time: beginning about 4 days before storm onset, the density decreases from ∼4 × 10−4 cm−3 to ∼1 × 10−4 cm−3. When there is not a calm before the storm, the number density decay is very small. The decay in the number density of radiation belt electrons is believed to be caused by pitch angle scattering of electrons into the atmospheric loss cone as the outer plasmasphere fills during the calms. This is confirmed by separately measuring the density decay rate for times when the outer plasmasphere is present or absent. While the radiation belt electron density decreases, the temperature of the electron radiation belt holds approximately constant, indicating that the electron precipitation occurs equally at all energies. Along with the number density decay, the pressure of the outer electron radiation belt decays, and the specific entropy increases. From the measured decay rates, the electron flux to the atmosphere is calculated, and that flux is 3 orders of magnitude less than thermal fluxes in the magnetosphere, indicating that the radiation belt pitch angle scattering is 3 orders weaker than strong diffusion. Energy fluxes into the atmosphere are calculated and found to be insufficient to produce visible airglow.

Magnetosphere response to high‐speed solar wind streams: A comparison of weak and strong driving and the importance of extended periods of fast solar wind

Much attention has been focused on the reaction of the magnetosphere to the solar wind during the recent extended solar minimum (2006–2010). Although this period was exceptionally quiet when categorized by some parameters (e.g., the number of sunspots) the solar wind still contained features which impacted the Earths magnetosphere and caused geomagnetic disturbances. Recurrent corotating interaction regions (CIRs) and associated high-speed solar wind streams (HSSs) are typically associated with the declining phase of the solar cycle and were a regular feature of the solar wind during the most recent solar minimum. Here we compare and contrast strong and weak HSSs in the solar wind and their subsequent effect within the Earths magnetosphere. We find significant differences between strong and weak HSS effects in the plasmasphere, in the ion and electron plasma sheets, and in the outer electron radiation belt. A density-temperature description of the outer radiation belt is shown to shed light on why the radiation belt flux is observed to return at a higher level after the arrival of strong HSSs than before strong HSSs and why the flux is observed to return at a lower level after the arrival of weak HSSs than before weak HSSs.

A density-temperature description of the outer electron radiation belt during geomagnetic storms

Bi-Maxwellian fits are made to energetic-electron flux measurements from seven satellites in geosynchronous orbit, yielding a number density (n) and temperature (T) description of the outer electron radiation belt. For 54.5 spacecraft years of measurements the median value of n is 3.7 × 10−4 cm−3, and the median value of T is 148 keV. General statistical properties of n, T, and the 1.1–1.5 MeV flux F are investigated, including local-time and solar-cycle dependencies. Using superposed-epoch analysis where the zero epoch is convection onset, the evolution of the outer electron radiation belt through high-speed-stream-driven storms is investigated. The number-density decay during the calm before the storm, relativistic-electron dropouts and recoveries, and the heating of the outer electron radiation belt during storms are analyzed. Using four different “triggers” (sudden storm commencement (SSC), southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) portions of coronal mass ejection (CME) sheaths, southward-IMF portions of magnetic clouds, and minimum Dst) a selection of CME-driven storms are analyzed with superposed-epoch techniques. For CME-driven storms, only a very modest density decay prior to storm onset is found. In addition, the compression of the outer electron radiation belt at the time of SSC is analyzed, the number-density increase and temperature decrease during storm main phase are characterized, and the increase in density and temperature during storm recovery phase is determined. During the different phases of storms, changes in the flux are sometimes in response to changes in the temperature, sometimes to changes in the number density, and sometimes to changes in both. Differences are found between the density-temperature and flux descriptions, and it is concluded that more information is available using the density-temperature description.

Free energy to drive equatorial magnetosonic wave instability at geosynchronous orbit

The magnetosonic (or ion Bernstein) instability is driven by a positive slope in the ion distribution function perpendicular to the magnetic field at energies above about 1 keV. Fifteen years of multisatellite geosynchronous observations are used to determine the statistical occurrence of ion distributions with positive slopes as a function of energy, local time, geomagnetic activity, and phase of the solar cycle. There is no discernable dependence on phase of the solar cycle, but there are clear dependences on the other parameters. Positive slopes are seen primarily in the energy range between similar to 3 and similar to 24 keV. The peak occurrence of positive slopes is between midmorning and dusk and moves progressively toward earlier local times for higher energies. The occurrence is significantly greater and extends over a broader local time range for low levels of geomagnetic activity than for high activity, for all energies. At high activity levels, the occurrence tends to be more closely confined near noon. Peak occurrence rates are similar to 30% at energies just below 10 keV. A superposed epoch analysis of 77 coronal mass ejection (CME)-driven storms and 93 high-speed solar wind (HSS)-driven storms shows a relative suppression of the occurrence frequency of positive slopes during the recovery phase. The suppression is particularly long-lived for HSS-driven streams.

High‐Speed Solar Wind Streams: A Call for Key Research

The arrival of high-speed solar wind streams (HSSs) at the Earths magnetopause drives particle and wave phenomena that are distinct from the phenomena caused by other solar wind structures. Although HSS events do not generally produce a particularly strong ring current (the current caused by ions and electrons drifting around the Earth), they do produce storm levels of other magnetospheric phenomena (enhanced convection, heating, precipitation, relativistic electron energization, and so forth) that can persist for an extended time period (e.g., many days). These events contrast with interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) events, where more transient driving (e.g., 1 day) is the norm. As such, the energy input to the magnetosphere during HSS events is comparable to, or may exceed, the energy input to the magnetosphere during ICME events.

No evidence for heating of the solar wind at strong current sheets

It has been conjectured that strong current sheets are the sites of proton heating in the solar wind. For the present study, a strong current sheet is defined by a >45 degrees rotation of the solar-wind magnetic-field direction in 128 s. A total of 194,070 strong current sheets at 1 AU are analyzed in the 1998-2010 ACE solar-wind data set. The proton temperature, proton specific entropy, and electron temperature at each current sheet are compared with the same quantities in the plasmas adjacent to the current sheet. Statistically, the plasma at the current sheets is not hotter or of higher entropy than the plasmas just outside the current sheets. This is taken as evidence that there is no significant localized heating of the solar-wind protons or electrons at strong current sheets. Current sheets are, however, found to be more prevalent in hotter solar-wind plasma. This is because more current sheets are counted in the fast solar wind than in the slow solar wind, and the fast solar wind is hotter than the slow solar wind.

Probing the relationship between electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves and plasmaspheric plumes near geosynchronous orbit

Plasmaspheric plumes created during disturbed geomagnetic conditions have been suggested as a major cause of increased occurrences of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves at these times. We have catalogued occurrences of strong Pc1 EMIC waves from 1996 through 2003 at three automated geophysical observatories operated by the British Antarctic Survey at auroral zone latitudes in Antarctica (L = 6.28, 7.68, and 8.07) and have compared them to the occurrence of plasmaspheric plumes in space, using simultaneous data from the Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer on the Los Alamos National Laboratory 1990-095 spacecraft, in geosynchronous orbit at the same magnetic longitude. A superposed epoch analysis of these data was conducted for several categories of disturbed geomagnetic conditions, including magnetic storms, high-speed streams, and storm sudden commencements. We found only a weak correspondence between the occurrence of strong Pc1 waves observed on the ground and either plasmaspheric plumes or intervals of extended plasmasphere at geosynchronous orbit before, during, or after the onset of any of these categories. Strong Pc1 activity peaked near or slightly after local noon during all storm phases, consistent with equatorial observations by the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers/Charge Composition Explorer satellite at these L shells. The highest Pc1 occurrence probability was at or 1-2 days before storm onset and during the late recovery phase. Occurrence was lowest during the early recovery phase, consistent with the decrease in solar wind pressure often seen at this time. The peak at onset is consistent with earlier observations of waves in the outer magnetosphere stimulated by sudden impulses and magnetospheric compressions.

Exploring the cross correlations and autocorrelations of the ULF indices and incorporating the ULF indices into the systems science of the solar wind‐driven magnetosphere

The ULF magnetospheric indices Sgr, Sgeo, Tgr, and Tgeo are examined and correlated with solar wind variables, geomagnetic indices, and the multispacecraft-averaged relativistic-electron flux F in the magnetosphere. The ULF indices are detrended by subtracting off sine waves with 24 h periods to form Sgrd, Sgeod, Tgrd, and Tgeod. The detrending improves correlations. Autocorrelation-function analysis indicates that there are still strong 24 h period nonsinusoidal signals in the indices which should be removed in future. Indications are that the ground-based indices Sgrd and Tgrd are more predictable than the geosynchronous indices Sgeod and Tgeod. In the analysis, a difference index ∆Smag ≈ Sgrd − 0.693 Sgeod is derived: the time integral of ∆Smag has the highest ULF index correlation with the relativistic-electron flux F. In systems-science fashion, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is used to correlate the relativistic-electron flux simultaneously with the time integrals of (a) the solar wind velocity, (b) the solar wind number density, (c) the level of geomagnetic activity, (d) the ULF indices, and (e) the type of solar wind plasma (coronal hole versus streamer belt): The time integrals of the solar wind density and the type of plasma have the highest correlations with F. To create a solar wind-Earth system of variables, the two indices Sgrd and Sgeod are combined with seven geomagnetic indices; from this, CCA produces a canonical Earth variable that is matched with a canonical solar wind variable. Very high correlations (rcorr = 0.926) between the two canonical variables are obtained.