Oleg Troshichev

Magnetic activity in the polar cap—A new index

Abstract A magnetic activity index PC measuring DP2 magnetic perturbations in the central polar cap is derived, and its relationship to various solar wind parameters is investigated through a linear correlation analysis. The PC index is based on data from a single nearpole station, and the index values derived from a station near the south pole, Vostok, are compared with simultaneous index values derived from a station near the north pole, Thule. It is concluded that the index shows a good correlation with the southward component of the interplanetary magnetic field IMF or, even better, the solar wind parameters vB z or vB t sin 2 θ 2 . In the derivation of the index the following items are taken into account: (1) seasonal changes, (2) inhomogeneity in magnitude and direction of the magnetic perturbation in the nearpole region and (3) a time delay between variations in the solar wind parameters and the subsequent response in the polar cap.

Global energy deposition during the January 1997 magnetic cloud event

The passage of an interplanetary magnetic cloud at Earth on January 10–11, 1997, induced significant geomagnetic disturbances, with a maximum AE in excess of 2000 nT and a minimum Dst of about −85 nT. We use a comprehensive set of data collected from space-borne instruments and from ground-based facilities to estimate the energy deposition associated with the three major magnetospheric sinks during the event. It is found that averaged over the 2-day period, the total magnetospheric energy deposition rate is about 400 GW, with 190 GW going into Joule heating rate, 120 GW into ring current injection, and 90 GW into auroral precipitation. By comparison, the average solar wind electromagnetic energy transfer rate as represented by the e parameter is estimated to be 460 GW, and the average available solar wind kinetic power USW is about 11,000 GW. A good linear correlation is found between the AE index and various ionospheric parameters such as the cross-polar-cap potential drop, hemisphere-integrated Joule heating rate, and hemisphere-integrated auroral precipitation. In the northern hemisphere where the data coverage is extensive, the proportionality factor is 0.06 kV/nT between the potential drop and AE, 0.25 GW/nT between Joule heating rate and AE, and 0.13 GW/nT between auroral precipitation and AE. However, different studies have resulted in different proportionality factors. One should therefore be cautious when using empirical formulas to estimate the ionospheric energy deposition. There is an evident saturation of the cross-polar-cap potential drop for large AE (>1000 nT), but further studies are needed to confirm this.

Cross polar cap diameter and voltage as a function of PC index and interplanetary quantities

Measurements of precipitating particles and the electric field on board EXOS D spacecraft for the period January–June 1990 have been used for estimation of the diameter of the polar cap along dawn-dusk meridian and the polar cap voltage. Identification of the polar cap boundaries has been made on the basis of specific features of precipitating ions. The data on the polar cap boundary location obtained for different geophysical conditions have been used to derive the statistical relationship between the polar cap diameter and PC index. The analysis has shown an approximately linear relationship between the polar cap diameter and the PC index for values PC < 3, the diameter tending to be asymptote when the PC index reaches large positive values. Cross polar cap voltage derived from EXOS D data is in good correlation with interplanetary quantities including the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) southward component. The best correlation is obtained for the merging electric field υBT sin2 θ/2, with a coefficient of correlation higher than 0.82. Almost the same correlation is observed between polar cap voltage and PC index. The effect of “saturation” is not traced in the voltage dependencies on the PC index and interplanetary quantities up to values BT ≤ 10 nT.

Ionospheric convection response to slow, strong variations in a northward interplanetary magnetic field: A case study for January 14, 1988

We analyze ionospheric convection patterns over the polar regions during the passage of an interplanetary magnetic cloud on January 14, 1988, when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) rotated slowly in direction and had a large amplitude. Using the assimilative mapping of ionospheric electrodynamics (AMIE) procedure, we combine simultaneous observations of ionospheric drifts and magnetic perturbations from many different instruments into consistent patterns of high-latitude electrodynamics, focusing on the period of northward IMF. By combining satellite data with ground-based observations, we have generated one of the most comprehensive data sets yet assembled and used it to produce convection maps for both hemispheres. We present evidence that a lobe convection cell was embedded within normal merging convection during a period when the IMF By and Bz components were large and positive. As the IMF became predominantly northward, a strong reversed convection pattern (afternoon-to-morning potential drop of around 100 kV) appeared in the southern (summer) polar cap, while convection in the northern (winter) hemisphere became weak and disordered with a dawn-to-dusk potential drop of the order of 30 kV. These patterns persisted for about 3 hours, until the IMF rotated significantly toward the west. We interpret this behavior in terms of a recently proposed merging model for northward IMF under solstice conditions, for which lobe field lines from the hemisphere tilted toward the Sun (summer hemisphere) drape over the dayside magnetosphere, producing reverse convection in the summer hemisphere and impeding direct contact between the solar wind and field lines connected to the winter polar cap. The positive IMF Bx component present at this time could have contributed to the observed hemispheric asymmetry. Reverse convection in the summer hemisphere broke down rapidly after the ratio |By/Bz| exceeded unity, while convection in the winter hemisphere strengthened. A dominant dawn-to-dusk potential drop was established in both hemispheres when the magnitude of By exceeded that of Bz, with potential drops of the order of 100 kV, even while Bz remained northward. The later transition to southward Bz produced a gradual intensification of the convection, but a greater qualitative change occurred at the transition through |By/Bz| = 1 than at the transition through Bz = 0. The various convection patterns we derive under northward IMF conditions illustrate all possibilities previously discussed in the literature: nearly single-cell and multicell, distorted and symmetric, ordered and unordered, and sunward and antisunward.

Polar cap index (PC) as a proxy for ionospheric electric field in the near‐pole region

The ion drift measurements made by a number of DMSP satellites during some intervals in 1991, 1997, and 1998 are utilized for estimation of the ionospheric electric fields over the near-pole region; these estimates are then compared with the Polar Cap (PC) magnetic activity index obtained from ground geomagnetic observations at Qaanaaq (former Thule, Greenland) and Vostok (Antarc- tica). The analysis shows that the polar cap electric field is primarily controlled by variations in the near-Earths inter- planetary electric field. The relationship between the polar cap ionospheric electric field and the PC-index can be ap- proximated by a quadratic polynomial. The polar cap iono- spheric electric field tends to saturate at the asymptote of -45-50 mV/m when the PC index reaches large positive values (PC > 10); the residual electric field (for near-zero interplanetary electric field applied to the Earths magneto- sphere) is-12 mV/m. It is concluded that the PC-index can serve as a proxy of the ionospheric electric fields in the near-pole region.

Polar cap index as a proxy for hemispheric Joule heating

The polar cap (PC) index measures the level of geomagnetic activity in the polar cap based on magnetic perturbations from overhead ionospheric currents and distant field-aligned currents on the poleward edge of the nightside auroral oval. Because PC essentially measures the main sources of energy input into the polar cap, we propose to use PC as a proxy for the hemispheric Joule heat production rate (JH). In this study, JH is estimated from the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) procedure. We fit hourly PC values to hourly averages of JH. Using a data base approximately three times larger than studies, we find a quadratic relationship between JH and PC, differentiated by season. A comparison during the November 1993 storm interval with earlier reported methods using the AE index and the cross polar cap potential, shows that the PC-based Joule heating estimate is as equally accurate. Thus the single station PC index appears to provide a quick estimate of, and is an appropriate proxy for, the hemispheric Joule heating rate.

Ionospheric response to the interplanetary magnetic field southward turning: Fast onset and slow reconfiguration

[1] This paper presents a case study of ionospheric response to an interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) southward turning. It is based on a comprehensive set of observations, including a global network of ground magnetometers, global auroral images, and a SuperDARN HF radar. There is a clear evidence for a two-stage ionospheric response to the IMF southward turning, namely, fast initial onset and slow final reconfiguration. The fast onset is manifested by nearly simultaneous (within 2 min) rise of ground magnetic perturbations at all local times, corroborated by a sudden change in the direction of line-of-sight velocity near local midnight and by the simultaneous equatorward shift of the auroral oval. The slow reconfiguration is characterized by the different rising rate of magnetic perturbations with latitudes: faster at high latitude than at lower latitudes. Furthermore, a cross-correlation analysis of the magnetometer data shows that the maximum magnetic perturbation is reached first near local noon, and then spread toward the nightside, corresponding to a dayside-to-nightside propagation speed of ∼5 km/s along the auroral oval. Global ionospheric convection patterns are derived based on ground magnetometer data along with auroral conductances inferred from the Polar UV images, using the assimilative mapping of ionospheric electrodynamics (AMIE) procedure. The AMIE patterns, especially the residual convection patterns, clearly show a globally coherent development of two-cell convection configuration following the IMF southward turning. While the foci of the convection patterns remain nearly steady, the convection flow does intensify with time and the cross-polar-cap potential drop increases. The overall changes as shown in the AMIE convection patterns therefore are fully consistent with the two-stage ionospheric response to the IMF southward turning.

Small substorms: Solar wind input and magnetotail dynamics

We investigated properties of 43 small magnetospheric substorms. Their general signatures were found to be consistent with the so-called contracted oval or northern Bz substorms. Small but clear pressure changes in the tail corresponding to growth and expansion phases detected in about a half of cases testify that these substorms follow the same loading-unloading scheme as the larger ones. However, rate of the solar wind energy accumulation in the magnetosphere was low due to azimuthal IMF orientation with dominating IMF By and small fluctuating IMF Bz. Plasma sheet signatures could be very strong and likely were localized in their cross-tail size. Negative bays in auroral X magnetograms were of order of 100–300 nT, with maxima at Bear Island station (71°geomagnetic latitude) and in few cases were delayed after magnetotail onsets by tens of minutes. Small substorms probably differ from their larger counterparts in a way that coherency of the magnetotail reconfiguration in the inner and middle-tail regions and across the tail is lost in smaller substorms.

The influence of polar-cap convection on the geoelectric field at Vostok, Antarctica

Abstract Vertical geoelectric field measurements at Vostok, Antarctica ( 78.5° S , 107° E ; corrected geomagnetic latitude, 83.4°S) made during 1998 are compared with both Weimer (1996) and IZMEM (1994) model calculations of the solar-wind-induced, polar-cap potential differences with respect to the station. By investigating the correlations between these parameters for individual UT hours, we confirm and extend the diurnal range over which significant correlations have been obtained. Nineteen individual UT hours are significantly correlated with the Weimer model predictions and nine with the IZMEM model predictions. Diurnal variation in the slopes of the linear regressions allows us to comment on each model, demonstrating that Antarctic polar plateau geoelectric field measurements can be used to investigate polar convection. Seasonal variations in the diurnal electric field variations at Vostok are compared with the Carnegie global electric circuit diurnal curves, after allowance is made for the solar-wind-induced, polar-cap potential difference patterns.

Tailward progression of magnetotail acceleration centers: Relationship to substorm current wedge

During a fortuitous near-alignment of the IMP 8 and Geotail spacecraft along the magnetotail axis, geomagnetic activity monitors on the ground and at geosynchronous altitude detected the evolution of a magnetospheric substorm. We searched for evidence of the neutral line formation and evolution during this substorm. There exists evidence for multiple, time-varying, localized (<9 RE) acceleration regions in the magnetotail at the time. Late in the expansion phase of the substorm a reversal of the predominant direction of the energetic particle anisotropy as well as the plasma flow velocity from tailward to Earthward was observed at Geotail at X=−61 RE. The tailward-to-Earthward anisotropy reversal is consistent with a tailward progression of the acceleration centers at Geotail. This phenomenon could be identified as the tailward retreat of the neutral line. However, the tailward progression of the activity is in reality the re appearance of new acceleration regions at gradually more tailward sites. Although the large temporal and spatial development is consistent with that of a reconnection geometry, the local Geotail acceleration is bursty and quite possibly localized. An ensuing increase of the northward magnetic field component seen at IMP 8 at X =−32 RE is consistent with a tailward expansion of the substorm current wedge out to that distance. Current wedge formation at IMP 8 was delayed by several minutes relative to the anisotropy reversal at Geotail. We interpret this as evidence that the location of current wedge and the location of magnetotail particle acceleration are separated by at least 30 RE during the late expansion phase of this substorm. Given the ∼9 RE cross-tail separation of IMP 8 and Geotail, there still exists some uncertainty as to the three dimensional evolution of the acceleration and dipolarization regions in the late expansion phase of this substorm. Given the scarcity of similar IMP 8-Geotail conjunctions during the distant tail Geotail phase, a full understanding of that evolution has to await a future multiprobe mission.