Multi-site observations of the association between aurora and plasma convection in the cusp/polar cap during a southeastward( B y ~ | B z |) IMF orientation

• Main Authors: Sandholt, P. E., Moen, J., Farrugia, C. J., Cowley, S. W. H., Lester, M., Milan, S. E., Valladares, C., Denig, W. F., Eriksson, S.
• Other Authors: Department of Physics, Okayama University, UNH Space Science Center Durham (SSC), University of New Hampshire (UNH), Department of Physics and Astronomy Leicester, University of Leicester, Institute for Scientific Research Newton (ISR), Boston College (BC), AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), United States Air Force (USAF)-United States Air Force (USAF), Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics Boulder (LASP), University of Colorado Boulder
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2003
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Arctic; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00316995; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00316995/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00316995/file/angeo-21-539-2003.pdf

International audience In a case study we demonstrate the spatiotemporal structure of aurora and plasma convection in the cusp/polar cap when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz < 0 and By ~ | Bz | (clock angle in GSM Y - Z plane: ~ 135°). This IMF orientation elicited a response different from that corresponding to strongly northward and southward IMF. Our study of this "intermediate state" is based on a combination of ground observations of optical auroral emissions and ionospheric plasma convection. Utilizing all-sky cameras at NyAlesund, Svalbard and Heiss Island (Russian arctic), we are able to monitor the high-latitude auroral activity within the ~10:00?15:00 MLT sector. Information on plasma convection is obtained from the SuperDARN radars, with emphasis placed on line of sight observations from the radar situated in Hankasalmi, Finland (Cutlass). A central feature of the auroral observations in the cusp/polar cap region is a ~ 30-min long sequence of four brightening events, some of which consists of latitudinally and longitudinally separated forms, which are found to be associated with pulsed ionospheric flows in merging and lobe convection cells. The auroral/convection events may be separated into different forms/cells and phases, reflecting a spatiotem-poral evolution of the reconnection process on the dayside magnetopause. The initial phase consists of a brightening in the postnoon sector (~ 12:00?14:00 MLT) at ~ 73° MLAT, accompanied by a pulse of enhanced westward convection in the postnoon merging cell. Thereafter, the event evolution comprises two phenomena which occur almost simultaneously: (1) westward expansion of the auroral brightening (equatorward boundary intensification) across noon, into the ~ 10:00?12:00 MLT sector, where the plasma convection subsequently turns almost due north, in the convection throat, and where classical poleward moving auroral forms (PMAFs) are observed; and (2) auroral brightening at slightly higher latitudes (~ 75° MLAT) in the postnoon lobe cell, ...