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Abstract Surface waves on Earth's magnetopause have a controlling effect upon global magnetospheric dynamics. Since spacecraft provide sparse in situ observation points, remote sensing these modes using ground‐based instruments in the polar regions is desirable. However, many open conceptual questions on the expected signatures remain. Therefore, we provide predictions of key qualitative features expected in auroral, ionospheric, and ground magnetic observations through both magnetohydrodynamic theory and a global coupled magnetosphere‐ionosphere simulation of a magnetopause surface eigenmode. These show monochromatic oscillatory field‐aligned currents (FACs), due to both the surface mode and its non‐resonant Alfvén coupling, are present throughout the magnetosphere. The currents peak in amplitude at the equatorward edge of the magnetopause boundary layer, not the open‐closed boundary as previously thought. They also exhibit slow poleward phase motion rather than being purely evanescent. We suggest the upward FAC perturbations may result in periodic auroral brightenings. In the ionosphere, convection vortices circulate the poleward moving FAC structures. Finally, surface mode signals are predicted in the ground magnetic field, with ionospheric Hall currents rotating perturbations by approximately (but not exactly) 90° compared to the magnetosphere. Thus typical dayside magnetopause surface modes should be strongest in the East‐West ground magnetic field component. Overall, all ground‐based signatures of the magnetopause surface mode are predicted to have the same frequency acrossL‐shells, amplitudes that maximize near the magnetopause's equatorward edge, and larger latitudinal scales than for field line resonance. Implications in terms of ionospheric Joule heating and geomagnetically induced currents are discussed.
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Mesoscale Convection Structures Associated With Airglow Patches Characterized Using Cluster‐Imager Conjunctions
Abstract Polar cap ionospheric plasma flow studies often focus on large‐scale averaged properties and neglect the mesoscale component. However, recent studies have shown that mesoscale flows are often found to be collocated with airglow patches. These mesoscale flows are typically a few hundred meters per second faster than the large‐scale background and are associated with major auroral intensifications when they reach the poleward boundary of the nightside auroral oval. Patches often also contain ionospheric signatures of enhanced field‐aligned currents and localized electron flux enhancements, indicating that patches are associated with magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling on open field lines. However, magnetospheric measurements of this coupling are lacking, and it has not been understood what the magnetospheric signatures of patches on open field lines are. The work presented here explores the magnetospheric counterpart of patches and the role these structures have in plasma transport across the open field‐line region in the magnetosphere. Using red‐line emission measurements from the Resolute Bay Optical Mesosphere Thermosphere Imager, and magnetospheric measurements made by the Cluster spacecraft, conjugate events from 2005 to 2009 show that lobe measurements on field lines connected to patches display (1) electric field enhancements, (2) Region 1 sense field‐aligned currents, (3) field‐aligned enhancements in soft electron flux, (4) downward Poynting fluxes, and (5) in some cases enhancements in ion flux, including ion outflows. These observations indicate that patches highlight a localized fast flow channel system that is driven by the magnetosphere and propagates from the dayside to the nightside, most likely being initiated by enhanced localized dayside reconnection.
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- PAR ID:
- 10374508
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
- Volume:
- 124
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 2169-9380
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 7513-7532
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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