Yang Huigen

The polar ionosphere at Zhongshan station on May 11, 1999, the day the solar wind almost disappeared

The solar wind almost disappeared on May 11, 1999: the solar wind plasma density and dynamic pressure were less than 1cm−3 and 0.1 nPa respectively, while the interplanetary magnetic field was northward. The polar ionospheric data observed by the multi-instruments at Zhongshan Station in Antarctica on such special event day was compared with those of the control day (May 14). It was shown that geomagnetic activity was very quiet on May 11 at Zhongshan. The magnetic pulsation, which usually occurred at about magnetic noon, did not appear. The ionosphere was steady and stratified, and the F2 layer spread very little. The critical frequency of day-side F2 layer, f0F2, was larger than that of control day, and the peak of f0F2 appeared 2 hours earlier. The ionospheric drift velocity was less than usual. There were intensive auroral Es appearing at magnetic noon. All this indicates that the polar ionosphere was extremely quiet and geomagnetic field was much more dipolar on May 11. There were some signatures of auroral substorm before midnight, such as the negative deviation of the geomagnetic H component, accompanied with auroral Es and weak Pc3 pulsation.

Pulsations and period changes of the non-Blazhko RR lyrae variable Y oct observed from Dome A, Antarctica

During the operation of the Chinese Small Telescope Array (CSTAR) in Dome A of Antarctica in the years 2008, 2009, and 2010, large amounts of photometric data have been obtained for variable stars in the CSTAR field. We present here the study of one of six RR Lyrae variables, Y Oct, observed with CSTAR in Dome A, Antarctica. Photometric data in the i band were obtained in 2008 and 2010, with a duty cycle (defined as the fraction of time representing scientifically available data to CSTAR observation time) of about 44% and 52%, respectively. In 2009, photometric data in the g and r bands were gathered for this star, with a duty cycle of 65% and 60%, respectively. Fourier analysis of the data in the three bands only shows the fundamental frequency and its harmonics, which is characteristic of the non-Blazhko RR Lyrae variables. Values of the fundamental frequency and the amplitudes, as well as the total pulsation amplitude, are obtained from the data in the three bands separately. The amplitude of the fundamental frequency and the total pulsation amplitude in the g band are the largest, and those in the i band the smallest. Two-hundred fifty-one times of maximum are obtained from the three seasons of data, which are analyzed together with 38 maximum times provided in the GEOS RR Lyrae database. A period change rate of -0.96 +/- 0.07 days Myr(-1) is then obtained, which is a surprisingly large negative value. Based on relations available in the literature, the following physical parameters are derived: [Fe/H] = -1.41 +/- 0.14, MV = 0.696 +/- 0.014 mag, V - K = 1.182 +/- 0.028 mag, log T-eff = 3.802 +/- 0.003 K, log g = 2.705 +/- 0.004, logL/L-circle dot = 1.625 +/- 0.013, and logM/M-circle dot = -0.240 +/- 0.019.

Ground Observations of Post-Noon Aurora: a Case Study

The characteristics of the post-noon aurora observed at Antarctic Zhongshan station on June 12, 1999, were discussed and analyzed. In the condition of the magnetic activity is not large (Kp≈1), for post-noon 630.0 nm emissions, the total fluxes of soft precipitating particles were increasing from 10∶50 UT to 13∶35 UT and were decreasing from 13∶35 UT to 18∶00 UT in almost monotonous way. Away from noon, the 557.7 nm emissions increased gradually from 10∶50 UT to 17∶10 UT. The behaviors of the precipitating particles for exciting 630.0 nm aurora and 557.7 nm aurora were quite different. The peak intensity of 630.0 nm and 557.7 nm emissions appeared at about 13∶35 UT and 15∶40 UT respectively, the time difference of two peaks is about 2 h. The energy of precipitating electrons remained fairly steady until 15∶00 UT when it rose dramatically.

Locating the polar cap boundary of postnoon sector from observations of 630.0 nm auroral emission at Zhongshan Station

We studied the ground observations of 630.0 nm auroral emission at Zhongshan Station to determine the polar cap boundary with the latitudinal profile of emission intensity. The open-closed field time boundary is assumed to lie at the boundary between polar rain and plasma sheet precipitation. We assume that nonprecipitation-dependent sources of 630.0 nm emission cause a spatially uniform luminosity in the polar cap and that auroral zone luminosity is also spatially uniform. Therefore we determine the location of the polar cap boundary of postnoon sector from the auroral emission data each time by finding the best fit of the observations to a step function in latitude and we produce a time series of the location of the polar cap boundary. The average error of the practice in the paper is less than 0.8 degree.

Analysis of Characteristic of Aurora Substorm Observed at Antarctic Zhongshan Station

The characteristics of a strong aurora substorm observed at Antarctic Zhongshan station (magnetic latitude=74.5°) on 8 April, 1999, were discussed and analyzed. The developing steps of the aurora substorm that happened in dusk time were almost the same with that of midnight aurora substorm. The averaged moving speed of the aurora arc toward pole area during the substorm expansion phase was about 3.0 km/s, westward-traveling surge speed was about 2.0 km/s. The extension from south to north in the substorm can cover 1100 km in distance.