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Coordinated Polar Spacecraft, Geosynchronous Spacecraft, and Ground-based Observations of Magnetopause Oscillations and Pc5 Waves in the Magnetosphere

Authors :
Le, G
Chen, S
Zheng, Y
Russell, C. T
Slavin, J. A
Huang, C.-S
Petrinec, S. S
Moore, T. E
Samson, J
Singer, H. J
Publication Year :
2005
Publisher :
United States: NASA Center for Aerospace Information (CASI), 2005.

Abstract

In this paper, we present in situ observations of surface waves at the magnetopause and oscillatory magnetospheric field lines, and coordinated observations Pc5 waves at geosynchronous orbit by the GOES spacecraft, and on the ground by CANOPUS and 210 Degree Magnetic Meridian (210MMJ magnetometer arrays. On February 7,2002 during a highspeed solar wind stream, the Polar spacecraft was skimming the magnetopause in a post-noon meridian plane for approximately 3 hours. During this interval, it made two short excursions and a few partial crossings into the magnetosheath and observed quasi-periodic cold ion bursts in the region adjacent to the magnetopause current layer. The multiple magnetopause crossings as well as the velocity of the cold ion bursts indicate that the magnetopause was oscillating with about 6 minute period. Simultaneous observations of Pc5 waves at geosynchronous orbit by the GOES spacecraft and on the ground by the CANOPUS magnetometer array reveal that these magnetospheric pulsations were forced oscillations of magnetic field lines directly driven by the magnetopause oscillations. The magnetospheric pulsations occurred only in a limited longitudinal region in the post-noon dayside sector, and were not a global phenomenon as one would expect for global field line resonance. Thus, the magnetopause oscillations at the source were also limited to a localized region spanning about 4 hours in local time.

Details

Language :
English
Database :
NASA Technical Reports
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsnas.20050180348
Document Type :
Report