Global auroral proton precipitation observed by IMAGE-FUV: Noon and midnight brightness dependence on solar wind characteristics and IMF orientation

Details Global auroral proton precipitation observed by IMAGE-FUV: Noon and midnight brightness dependence on solar wind characteristics and IMF orientation Global auroral proton precipitation observed by IMAGE-FUV: Noon and midnight brightness dependence on solar wind characteristics and IMF orientation

May 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006jgra..11105210c&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 111, Issue A5, CiteID A05210

Physics

5

Magnetospheric Physics: Auroral Phenomena (2407), Magnetospheric Physics: Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions (2431), Ionosphere: Particle Precipitation

Scientific paper

The brightness of proton aurora observed near solar maximum at summer and winter solstices with the FUV-SI12 global imager on board the IMAGE satellite has been correlated with the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field characteristics measured by ACE satellite instruments. By contrast to the electron aurora, we find a strong correlation both on nightside and dayside between the proton precipitated power and the solar wind dynamic pressure calculated with 1-hour averaged solar wind data. For both southward and northward IMF, the proton power increases with |Bz|, but much more rapidly on the nightside for southward IMF orientation. Correlations for the nightside aurora were also calculated with a series of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling functions. We find highest correlation coefficients for expressions containing the dynamic pressure or involving the solar wind electric field in the Y-Z plane. The influence of the solar wind dynamic pressure on the proton aurora is tentatively explained by the effect of the pressure on the shape of the magnetosphere, generating stretching of the magnetotail and proton precipitation but also by other coupling processes between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. Adding FUV-WIC and SI13 electron aurora images in the study, we determine how proton and electron precipitations simultaneously react to solar wind and IMF characteristics and Kp. Results shows that protons are more reactive to dynamic pressure variations than electrons when Bz is positive, while the influence on of both types of particles is similar for negative Bz. The precipitating proton flux is found proportionally larger compared with the electron flux when the total auroral flux increases for low activity level. Instead, for high activity level, the proportion of the proton and the electron powers are similar when auroral power increases. Consequently, it is suggested that similar mechanisms cause proton and electron auroral precipitation for high activity levels, while they appear somewhat decoupled for lower activity conditions.

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