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Abstract During the 9 March 2018 event with two consecutive interplanetary shocks compressing the dayside magnetosphere, the azimuthal mode structure and frequency spectrum of ultra low frequency magnetic pulsations are resolved using a cross‐spectral analysis based on high‐fidelity multi‐probe Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) magnetometer data. The results based on the MMS 4 and MMS 3 pair of measurements show that shock arrival leads to low mode () magnetic fluctuations in the Pc4‐5 regimes, and smaller spatial scale fluctuations implied by the dominant high mode numbers are observed after both shock signatures hit and passed the magnetosphere. Detailed evolution of the mode structure is also shown for the first shock to reveal the development of high mode structure from a bump‐on‐tail distribution atto a dominant peak atin about 10 min. In addition, an interesting change of sign infrom negative to positive is observed as MMS crosses ∼11 MLT pre‐noon, which is consistent with the picture of wave generation by dayside magnetopause compression and then anti‐sunward propagation. For both shocks, the contribution of higher frequency waves (Pc‐4 range compared with Pc‐5) to the total wave power is found to be negligible before and after the shock impact, but it becomes more significant during the shock impact. 

Abstract Characterizing the azimuthal mode number,m, of ultralow‐frequency (ULF) waves is necessary for calculating radial diffusion of radiation belt electrons. A cross‐spectral technique is applied to the compressional Pc5 ULF waves observed by multiple pairs of GOES satellites to estimate the azimuthal mode structure during the 28‐31 May 2010 storm. We find that allowing for both positive and negativemis important to achieve a more realistic distribution of mode numbers and to resolve wave propagation direction. During the storm commencement when the solar wind dynamic pressure is high, ULF wave power is found to dominate at low‐mode numbers. An interesting change of sign inmoccurred around noon, which is consistent with the driving of ULF waves by solar wind buffeting around noon, creating antisunward wave propagation. The low‐mode ULF waves are also found to have a less global coverage in magnetic local time than previously assumed. In contrast, during the storm main phase and early recovery phase when the solar wind dynamic pressure is low and the auroral electrojet index is high, wave power is shown to be distributed over all modes from low to high. The high‐mode waves are found to cover a wider range of magnetic local time than what was previously assumed. Furthermore, to reduce the 2nπambiguity in resolvingm, a cross‐pair analysis is performed on satellite field measurements for the first time, which is demonstrated to be effective in generating more reliable mode structure of ULF waves during high auroral electrojet periods. 

Abstract Using the global Lagrangian version of the piecewise parabolic method‐magnetohydrodynamic (PPMLR‐MHD) model, we simulate two consecutive storms in December 2015, a moderate storm on 14–15 December and a strong storm on 19–22 December, and calculate the radial diffusion coefficients (D_LL) from the simulated ultralow frequency waves. We find that even though the strong storm leads to more enhancedB_zandE_φpower than the moderate storm, the two storms share in common a lot of features on the azimuthal mode structure and power spectrum of ultralow frequency waves. For both storms, the totalB_zandE_φpower is better correlated with the solar wind dynamic pressure in the storm initial phase and more correlated withAEindex in the recovery phase.B_zwave power is shown to be mostly distributed in low mode numbers, whileE_φpower spreads over a wider range of modes. Furthermore, theB_zandE_φpower spectral densities are found to be higher at higherLregions, with a strongerLdependence in theB_zspectra. The estimatedD_LLbased on MHD fields shows that inside the magnetopause, the contribution from electric fields is larger than or comparable to that from magnetic fields, and our event‐specific MHD‐basedD_LLcan be smaller than some previous empiricalD_LLestimations by more than an order of magnitude. At last, by validating against in situ observations from Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft, our MHD results are found to generally well reproduce the totalB_zfields and wave power for both storms, while theE_φpower is underestimated in the MHD simulations. 

Abstract Radiation belt electrons undergo frequent acceleration, transport, and loss processes under various physical mechanisms. One of the most prevalent mechanisms is radial diffusion, caused by the resonant interactions between energetic electrons and ULF waves in the Pc4‐5 band. An indication of this resonant interaction is believed to be the appearance of periodic flux oscillations. In this study, we report long‐lasting, drift‐periodic flux oscillations of relativistic and ultrarelativistic electrons with energies up to ∼7.7 MeV in the outer radiation belt, observed by the Van Allen Probes mission. During this March 2017 event, multi‐MeV electron flux oscillations at the electron drift frequency appeared coincidently with enhanced Pc5 ULF wave activity and lasted for over 10 h in the center of the outer belt. The amplitude of such flux oscillations is well correlated with the radial gradient of electron phase space density (PSD), with almost no oscillation observed near the PSD peak. The temporal evolution of the PSD radial profile also suggests the dominant role of radial diffusion in multi‐MeV electron dynamics during this event. By combining these observations, we conclude that these multi‐MeV electron flux oscillations are caused by the resonant interactions between electrons and broadband Pc5 ULF waves and are an indicator of the ongoing radial diffusion process during this event. They contain essential information of radial diffusion and have the potential to be further used to quantify the radial diffusion effects and aid in a better understanding of this prevailing mechanism.