Effect of solar wind dynamic pressure enhancements on dayside and nightside ionospheric convection and the polar cap boundary location

Details Effect of solar wind dynamic pressure enhancements on dayside and nightside ionospheric convection and the polar cap boundary location Effect of solar wind dynamic pressure enhancements on dayside and nightside ionospheric convection and the polar cap boundary location

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm23b..07b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM23B-07

Physics

[2723] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetic Reconnection, [2740] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, [2760] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Convection, [2784] Magnetospheric Physics / Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

The significant effect of solar wind dynamic pressure fronts on ionospheric convection and magnetospheric reconnection has been demonstrated by both ground and space born instruments in recent years. Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) observations show that solar wind pressure fronts induce significantly enhanced ionospheric convection in the dayside ionosphere. The variations in solar wind pressure and those of the dayside convection after the pressure enhancement exhibit a remarkable correlation. In parallel, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) precipitating particle measurements and POLAR Ultra-Violet Imager (UVI) images have shown that sudden enhancements in solar wind pressure also substantially reduce the size of the polar cap, especially on the nightside, suggesting an enhancement of magnetotail reconnection. We use SuperDARN flow observations within both the dayside and nightside polar ionosphere to statistically determine the relative strength of the observed dayside and nightside convection enhancements after abrupt increases in solar wind pressure. The results show that the convection is enhanced on both the dayside and nightside ionosphere, but the response is more clear and immediate on the dayside. In addition, for specific case studies, we show changes in the polar cap boundary location resulting from the pressure enhancement, as determined by POLAR UVI images. Significant reduction of the open flux is observed, especially on the nightside. The poleward motion of the polar cap boundary on the nightside, combined with enhanced nightside flows that cross this boundary, indicate an enhancement of magnetotail reconnection after solar wind pressure fronts. We evaluate the generality of this results with a superposed epoch analysis of cases with simultaneous SuperDARN and UVI nightside observations.

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