The Generation of Parallel Electric Fields During the Formation of Substorm Auroras

Details The Generation of Parallel Electric Fields During the Formation of Substorm Auroras The Generation of Parallel Electric Fields During the Formation of Substorm Auroras

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsm52b..07s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SM52B-07

Physics

[2704] Magnetospheric Physics / Auroral Phenomena, [2712] Magnetospheric Physics / Electric Fields, [2736] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, [2752] Magnetospheric Physics / Mhd Waves And Instabilities

Scientific paper

In the auroral particle acceleration region, parallel electric fields play a crucial role in the formation of substorm auroral arcs. In the tail current sheet, the generation of parallel electric fields is also necessary for the localized breakdown of the frozen-in condition allowing an efficient tail plasma reconfiguration. During the reconfiguration process, field-aligned currents and Alfven waves carrying Poynting flux, a major energy source for auroral formation, are generated. A dynamical treatment indicates that substorm auroras are caused by Alfvenic interactions in the auroral field-aligned current system and at the tail current sheets, rather than by some resistive or passive forces given in the generalized Ohm’s law. In this scenario, the nonlinear interaction between incident and reflected Alfvén wave packets in the auroral acceleration regions can cause a local enhancement of azimuthal magnetic flux, leading to the generation of parallel electric fields. The nonlinear interaction between the fast mode wave packets with the tail current sheets can break down the frozen-in condition locally. Based on these theoretical considerations, we will discuss the relationship between auroral phenomenology and magnetospheric processes with special emphasis on (i) How the parallel potential drop associated with the auroral formation is generated by the nonlinear interaction of Alfvenic disturbances in the M-I coupling system including the generator, the auroral acceleration region and the ionosphere; (ii) How the generation of auroral arcs triggers a further release of the tail energy during substorm onset; (iii) How parallel electric fields are generated by kinetic Alfven waves using a full dynamical description.

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