ULF Waves Distribution near Plasmasphere Boundary Layer Using THEMIS and Geomagnetic Observation

Details ULF Waves Distribution near Plasmasphere Boundary Layer Using THEMIS and Geomagnetic Observation ULF Waves Distribution near Plasmasphere Boundary Layer Using THEMIS and Geomagnetic Observation

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsm41b2023x&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SM41B-2023

Physics

[2730] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere: Inner, [2768] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasmasphere, [2774] Magnetospheric Physics / Radiation Belts

Scientific paper

The location of the "classical plasmapause" was usually identified by sharp radial gradient in the local electron density measured in situ by a spacecraft passing across the plasmasphere boundary. Recent studies have found that the outer plasmasphere region is not always a structure with plasma sharp density gradient but filled with a variety of density irregularities, various fluctuations and instabilities, known as the Plasmasphere Boundary Layer, PBL. The variety and complex around PBL makes determining the location of "classical plasmapause" meaningless while investigating properties of PBL more important. PBL has a significant influence on properties of ULF waves in the inner magnetosphere. Two ULF waves events near PBL have been studied in this paper. In the two events: [1] ULF waves are observed simultaneously by THEMIS satellites and ground-based magnetometers of IMAGE array when the THEMIS spacecrafts outbound the plasmasphere. They are suggested to be resonant ULF waves structures formed between the northern and southern ionospheres, known as standing waves in the form of field line resonances (FLRs) in the near-Earth space plasma; [2] Kelvin-Helmholtz instability generated at the flank magnetopause could be the source of these observed resonant magnetic field line in the inner magnetosphere; [3] Based on the ULF waves frequency and Rankin[Rankin et al., 2006] model, a continuous rather than discrete profile of plasma density along satellites orbit throughout magnetosphere is obtained, for the first time; [4] ULF waves power and frequency experience gradual but significant change during a transition area where ULF waves encounter plasmasphere because dense cold plasma in plasmasphere has a significant influence on propagation of ULF waves. The transition area consistently coincides with abrupt change of satellite potential; gradient of ULF-inferred plasma density profile in the transition region is steep. These evidences support the transition area is PBL under the sense of influence on ULF waves properties. Hence using ULF waves to diagnose PBL directly is practical and proposed in this paper.

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