Literatura académica sobre el tema "Auroral plasma"

Abstract. Nishimura et al. (2010) proposed a new plasma intrusion or preonset aurora scenario of substorm triggering. In this scenario, a substorm is triggered by a fast earthward flow generated at the distant neutral line which corresponds to a preonset auroral streamer or arc in the ionosphere propagating from the auroral poleward boundary to the initial auroral brightening site, i.e., “preonset aurora”. In the present paper, we revisited three substorm events reported as being triggered by such a mechanism related to preonset auroras, based on THEMIS ground-based all-sky imager data. Unlike previous studies, we examined the arrival timing of the preonset aurora relative to the three steps of auroral onset arc development (initial brightening, enhancement of the wave-like structure, and poleward expansion) to make the role of the preonset aurora in the auroral steps clearer. Our detailed timing analysis found that preonset auroral streamers reached the auroral onset arc but away from the initial brightening site after initial brightening for two events, while no preonset aurora reaching the initial brightening site could be identified for the other event. This result suggests that the processes associated with auroral streamers are unlikely to affect at least initial brightening, even if we consider not only the presence and arrival timing and location of the auroral streamers but also the scale of the corresponding flow and flow vortices. We list a series of open questions for testing the preonset aurora scenario further in future studies. Keywords. Magnetospheric physics (storms and substorms; auroral phenomena; magnetotail)

Abstract. A strong southward rotation of the IMF (BZ from 5 to -6 nT in ~ 20 s) on 4 January 1995 caused an abrupt reconfiguration of midday aurorae and plasma convection consisting of the following: (1) the red-line aurora associated with magnetosheath plasma transfer at the low-latitude magnetopause appeared at the same time that (2) the green-line aurora from precipitating energetic plasma sheet particles equatorward of the cusp (near the open-closed field line boundary) weakened visibly and shifted equatorward, (3) the high-latitude aurora during the previous northward IMF, which is associated with lobe reconnection, persisted briefly (3 min) and brightened, before it disappeared from the field-of-view, (4) the activation of a strong convection bay (DPY current) at cusp and sub-cusp latitudes when the field turned strongly south, (5) a distinct wave motion of the plasma sheet outer boundary, as inferred from the aurora, which correlates closely with Pc 5 magnetic pulsations. Our interpretation of the dramatic reconfiguration is that reconnection poleward of the cusp coexisted briefly with reconnection at sub-cusp latitudes. The latter provided a magnetic field connection which enabled, on the one hand, magnetosheath particles to enter and cause the red-line cusp aurora, and on the other hand, allowed for magnetospheric energetic particles to escape and weaken the outer plasma sheet source of the green-line emission. The coexistence of the two cusp auroras reflects the time required for one field line topology to replace another, which, under the prevailing high speed wind ( ~ 650 km/s), lasts ~ 3–4 min. The motion of open flux tubes propagating from equator to pole during this transition is traced in the aurora by a poleward moving form. The waves on the outer boundary of the plasma sheet are most likely due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The study illustrates the ability of local auroral observations to monitor even a global change in magnetospheric magnetic topology.Key words. Magnetospheric Physics (auroral phenomena; magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers; solar wind-magnethoshere interactions)

Abstract. Black auroras are recognized as spatially well-defined regions within uniform diffuse aurora where the optical emission is significantly reduced. Although a well studied phenomenon, there is no generally accepted theory for black auroras. One theory suggests that black regions are formed when energetic magnetospheric electrons no longer have access to the loss cone. If this blocking mechanism drifts with the source electron population in the magnetosphere, black auroras in the ionosphere should drift eastward with a velocity that increases with the energy of the precipitating electrons in the surrounding aurora, since the gradient-B curvature drift is energy dependent. It is the purpose of this paper to test this hypothesis. To do so we have used simultaneous measurements by the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) radar and an auroral TV camera at Tromsø, Norway. We have analyzed 8 periods in which a black aurora occurred frequently to determine their relative drift with respect to the ionospheric plasma. The black aurora was found to drift eastward with a velocity of 1.5–4km/s, which is in accordance with earlier observations. However, one case was found where a black patch was moving westward, this being the first report of such behaviour in the literature. In general, the drift was parallel to the ionospheric flow but at a much higher velocity. This suggests that the generating mechanism is not of ionospheric origin. The characteristic energy of the precipitating electron population was estimated through inversion of E-region plasma density profiles. We show that the drift speed of the black patches increased with the energy of the precipitating electrons in a way consistent with the gradient-B curvature drift, suggesting a magnetospheric mechanism for the black aurora. As expected, a comparison of the drift speeds with a rudimentary dipole field model of the gradient-B curvature drift speed only yields order-of-magnitude agreement, which most likely is due to the nightside disturbed magnetosphere being significantly stretched. Keywords. Auroral ionosphere; MI interaction; Energetic particles, precipitating

Abstract. According to observations, the discrete auroral arcs can sometimes be found, either deep inside the auroral oval or at the poleward border of the wide (so-called double) auroral oval, which map to very different regions of the magnetotail. To find common physical conditions for the auroral-arc generation in these magnetotail regions, we study the spatial relationship between the diffuse and discrete auroras and the isotropic boundaries (IBs) of the precipitating energetic particles which can be used to characterise locally the equatorial magnetic field in the tail. From comparison of ground observation of auroral forms with meridional profiles of particle flux measured simultaneously by the low-altitude NOAA satellites above the ground observation region, we found that (1) discrete auroral arcs are always situated polewards from (or very close to) the IB of >30-keV electrons, whereas (2) the IB of the >30-keV protons is often seen inside the diffuse aurora. These relationships hold true for both quiet and active (substorm) conditions in the premidnight-nightside (18-01-h) MLT sector considered. In some events the auroral arcs occupy a wide latitudinal range. The most equatorial of these arcs was found at the poleward edge of the diffuse auroras (but anyway in the vicinity of the electron IB), the most poleward arcs were simultaneously observed on the closed field lines near the polar-cap boundary. These observations disagree with the notion that the discrete aurora originate exclusively in the near-Earth portion of plasma sheet or exclusively on the PSBL field lines. Result (1) may imply a fundamental feature of auroral-arc formation: they originate in the current-sheet regions having very curved and tailward-stretched magnetic field lines.