Width and brightness of auroral arcs driven by inertial Alfven waves

Details Width and brightness of auroral arcs driven by inertial Alfven waves Width and brightness of auroral arcs driven by inertial Alfven waves

Feb 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003jgra..108.1091c&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics), Volume 108, Issue A2, pp. SIA 17-1, CiteID 1091, DOI 10.1029/2001JA007537

Physics

21

Magnetospheric Physics: Auroral Phenomena (2407), Ionosphere: Particle Acceleration, Ionosphere: Wave/Particle Interactions, Magnetospheric Physics: Mhd Waves And Instabilities

Scientific paper

Alfven waves with scale sizes perpendicular to the geomagnetic field of the order of an electron skin depth (λe), or electron inertial length, and larger are often observed by polar orbiting spacecraft above the aurora. Using observations from the FAST spacecraft, predictions from an MHD simulation, and theoretically derived results for the efficiency of light production from auroral electron spectra characteristic of those found in Alfven waves, the width and brightness distribution of auroral arcs driven by linear inertial Alfven waves are determined. It is shown that inertial Alfven waves can drive aurora to optical intensities as high as 100 kR over widths in the ionosphere of the order of 1 km. It is also shown that while linear inertial Alfven waves can cause auroral arcs of widths less than 100 m, it is unlikely that these waves can account for the optically observed distribution of narrow arc widths reported in the literature.

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