The magnetospheric interactions of predicted ULF wave power

Author(s):  
Sarah Bentley ◽  
Rhys Thompson ◽  
Clare Watt ◽  
Jennifer Stout ◽  
Teo Bloch

<p>We present and analyse a freely-available model of the power found in ultra-low frequency waves (ULF, 1-15 mHz) throughout Earth’s magnetosphere. Predictions can be used to test our understanding of magnetospheric dynamics, while accurate models of these waves are required to characterise the energisation and transport of radiation belt electrons in space weather.</p><p>This model is constructed using decision tree ensembles, which iteratively partition the given parameter space into variable size bins. Wave power is determined by physical driving parameters (e.g. solar wind properties) and spatial parameters of interest (magnetic local time MLT, magnetic latitude and frequency). As a parameterised model, there is no guarantee that individual physical processes can be extracted and analysed. However, by iteratively considering smaller scale driving processes, we identify predominant wave drivers and find that solar wind driving of ULF waves are moderated by internal magnetospheric conditions. Significant remaining uncertainty occurs with mild solar wind driving, suggesting that the internal state of the magnetosphere should be included in future.</p><p>Models such as this may be used to create global magnetospheric “maps” of predicted wave power which may then be used to create radial diffusion coefficients determining the effect of ULF waves on radiation belt electrons.</p>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Rae ◽  
Kyle Murphy ◽  
Clare Watt ◽  
Jasmine Sandhu ◽  
Samuel Wharton ◽  
...  

<p>Wave-particle interactions play a key role in radiation belt dynamics. Traditionally, Ultra-Low Frequency (ULF) wave-particle interaction is parameterised statistically by a small number of controlling factors for given solar wind driving conditions or geomagnetic activity levels. Here, we investigate solar wind driving of ultra-low frequency (ULF) wave power and the role of the magnetosphere in screening that power from penetrating deep into the inner magnetosphere. We demonstrate that, during enhanced ring current intensity, the Alfvén continuum plummets, allowing lower frequency waves to penetrate deeper into the magnetosphere than during quiet periods. With this penetration, ULF wave power is able to accumulate closer to the Earth than characterised by statistical models. During periods of enhanced solar wind driving such as coronal mass ejection driven storms, where ring current intensities maximise, the observed penetration provides a simple physics-based reason for why storm-time ULF wave power is different compared to non-storm time waves. We demonstrate statistically that the ring current plays a pivotal role in allowing ULF wave energy to access the inner magnetosphere and show a new parameterisation of ULF wave power for radiation belt research purposes that is specifically tuned for geomagnetic storms.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmine Sandhu ◽  
Jonathan Rae ◽  
John Wygant ◽  
Aaron Breneman ◽  
Sheng Tian ◽  
...  

<p>Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) waves drive radial diffusion of radiation belt electrons, where this process contributes to and, at times, dominates energisation, loss, and large scale transport of the outer radiation belt. In this study we quantify the changes and variability in ULF wave power during geomagnetic storms, through a statistical analysis of Van Allen Probes data for the time period spanning 2012 – 2019. The results show that global wave power enhancements occur during the main phase, and continue into the recovery phase of storms. Local time asymmetries show sources of ULF wave power are both external solar wind driving as well as internal sources from coupling with ring current ions and substorms.</p><p>The statistical analysis demonstrates that storm time ULF waves are able to access lower L values compared to pre-storm conditions, with enhancements observed within L = 4. We assess how magnetospheric compressions and cold plasma distributions shape how ULF wave power propagates through the magnetosphere. Results show that the Earthward displacement of the magnetopause is a key factor in the low L enhancements. Furthermore, the presence of plasmaspheric plumes during geomagnetic storms plays a crucial role in trapping ULF wave power, and contributes significantly to large storm time enhancements in ULF wave power.</p><p>The results have clear implications for enhanced radial diffusion of the outer radiation belt during geomagnetic storms. Estimates of storm time radial diffusion coefficients are derived from the ULF wave power observations, and compared to existing empirical models of radial diffusion coefficients. We show that current Kp-parameterised models, such as the Ozeke et al. [2014] model, do not fully capture the large variability in storm time radial diffusion coefficients or the extent of enhancements in the magnetic field diffusion coefficients.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiugang Zong

Abstract. Solar wind forcing, e.g. interplanetary shock and/or solar wind dynamic pressure pulses impact on the Earth’s magnetosphere manifests many fundamental important space physics phenomena including producing electromagnetic waves, plasma heating and energetic particle acceleration. This paper summarizes our present understanding of the magnetospheric response to solar wind forcing in the aspects of radiation belt electrons, ring current ions and plasmaspheric plasma physics based on in situ spacecraft measurements, ground-based magnetometer data, MHD and kinetic simulations. Magnetosphere response to solar wind forcing, is not just a “one-kick” scenario. It is found that after the impact of solar wind forcing on the Earth’s magnetosphere, plasma heating and energetic particle acceleration started nearly immediately and could last for a few hours. Even a small dynamic pressure change of interplanetary shock or solar wind pressure pulse can play a non-negligible role in magnetospheric physics. The impact leads to generate series kind of waves including poloidal mode ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves. The fast acceleration of energetic electrons in the radiation belt and energetic ions in the ring current region response to the impact usually contains two contributing steps: (1) the initial adiabatic acceleration due to the magnetospheric compression; (2) followed by the wave-particle resonant acceleration dominated by global or localized poloidal ULF waves excited at various L-shells. Generalized theory of drift and drift-bounce resonance with growth or decay localized ULF waves has been developed to explain in situ spacecraft observations. The wave related observational features like distorted energy spectrum, boomerang and fishbone pitch angle distributions of radiation belt electrons, ring current ions and plasmaspheric plasma can be explained in the frame work of this generalized theory. It is worthy to point out here that poloidal ULF waves are much more efficient to accelerate and modulate electrons (fundamental mode) in the radiation belt and charged ions (second harmonic) in the ring current region. The results presented in this paper can be widely used in solar wind interacting with other planets such as Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and other astrophysical objects with magnetic fields.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Manners ◽  
Adam Masters

<p>The magnetosphere of Jupiter is the largest planetary magnetosphere in the solar system, and plays host to internal dynamics that remain, in many ways, mysterious. Prominent among these mysteries are the ultra-low-frequency (<strong>ULF</strong>) pulses ubiquitous in this system. Pulsations in the electromagnetic emissions, magnetic field and flux of energetic particles have been observed for decades, with little to indicate the source mechanism. While ULF waves have been observed in the magnetospheres of all the magnetized planets, the magnetospheric environment at Jupiter seems particularly conducive to the emergence of ULF waves over a wide range of periods (1-100+ minutes). This is mainly due to the high variability of the system on a global scale: internal plasma sources and a powerful intrinsic magnetic field produce a highly-compressible magnetospheric cavity, which can be reduced to a size significantly smaller than its nominal expanded state by variations in the dynamic pressure of the solar wind. Compressive fronts in the solar wind, turbulent surface interactions on the magnetopause and internal plasma processes can also all lead to ULF wave activity inside the magnetosphere.</p><p>To gain the first comprehensive view of ULF waves in the Jovian system, we have performed a heritage survey of magnetic field data measured by six spacecraft that visited the magnetosphere (Galileo, Ulysses, Voyager 1 & 2 and Pioneer 10 & 11). We found several-hundred wave events consisting of wave packets parallel or transverse to the mean magnetic field, interpreted as fast-mode or Alfvénic MHD wave activity, respectively. Parallel and transverse events were often coincident in space and time, which may be evidence of global Alfvénic resonances of the magnetic field known as field-line-resonances. We found that 15-, 30- and 40-minute periods dominate the Jovian ULF wave spectrum, in agreement with the dominant “magic frequencies” often reported in existing literature.</p><p>We will discuss potential driving mechanisms as informed by the results of the heritage survey, how this in turn affects our understanding of energy transfer in the magnetosphere, and potential investigations to be made using data from the JUNO spacecraft. We will also discuss the potential for multiple resonant cavities, and how the resonance modes of the Jovian magnetosphere may differ from those of the other magnetized planets.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 697-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pokhotelov ◽  
I. J. Rae ◽  
K. R. Murphy ◽  
I. R. Mann

Abstract. Magnetospheric ultra-low frequency (ULF) oscillations in the Pc 4–5 frequency range play an important role in the dynamics of Earth's radiation belts, both by enhancing the radial diffusion through incoherent interactions and through the coherent drift-resonant interactions with trapped radiation belt electrons. The statistical distributions of magnetospheric ULF wave power are known to be strongly dependent on solar wind parameters such as solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation. Statistical characterisation of ULF wave power in the magnetosphere traditionally relies on average solar wind–IMF conditions over a specific time period. In this brief report, we perform an alternative characterisation of the solar wind influence on magnetospheric ULF wave activity through the characterisation of the solar wind driver by its variability using the standard deviation of solar wind parameters rather than a simple time average. We present a statistical study of nearly one solar cycle (1996–2004) of geosynchronous observations of magnetic ULF wave power and find that there is significant variation in ULF wave powers as a function of the dynamic properties of the solar wind. In particular, we find that the variability in IMF vector, rather than variabilities in other parameters (solar wind density, bulk velocity and ion temperature), plays the strongest role in controlling geosynchronous ULF power. We conclude that, although time-averaged bulk properties of the solar wind are a key factor in driving ULF powers in the magnetosphere, the solar wind variability can be an important contributor as well. This highlights the potential importance of including solar wind variability especially in studies of ULF wave dynamics in order to assess the efficiency of solar wind–magnetosphere coupling.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiugang Zong

<p>Solar wind forcing, e.g. interplanetary shock and/or solar wind dynamic pressure pulses impact on the Earth’s magnetosphere manifests many fundamental important space physics phenomena including producing electromagnetic waves, plasma heating and energetic particle acceleration. This paper summarizes our present understanding of the magnetospheric response to solar wind forcing in the aspects of radiation belt electrons, ring current ions and plasmaspheric plasma physic based on in situ spacecraft measurements, ground-based magnetometer data, MHD and kinetic simulations.</p><p>Magnetosphere response to solar wind forcing, is not just “one-kick” scenario. It is found that after the impact of solar wind forcing on the Earth’s magnetosphere, plasma heating and energetic particle acceleration started nearly immediately and could last for a few hours. Even a small dynamic pressure change of interplanetary shock or solar wind pressure pulse can play a non-negligible role in magnetospheric physics. The impact leads to generate series kind of waves including poloidal mode ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves. The fast acceleration of energetic electrons in the radiation belt and energetic ions in the ring current region response to the impact usually contain two contributing steps: (1) the initial adiabatic acceleration due to the magnetospheric compression; (2) followed by the wave-particle resonant acceleration dominated by global or localized poloidal ULF waves excited at various L-shells.</p><p>Generalized theory of drift and drift-bounce resonance with growth or decay localized ULF waves have been developed to explain in situ spacecraft observations. The wave related observational features like distorted energy spectrum, boomerang and fishbone pitch angle distributions of radiation belt electrons, ring current ions and plasmaspheric plasma can be explained in the frame work of this generalized theory. It is worthy to point out here that poloidal ULF wave is much more efficient to accelerate and modulate electrons (fundamental mode) in the radiation belt and charged ions (second harmonic) in the ring current region. The results presented in this paper can be widely used in solar wind interacting with other planets such as Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and other astrophysical objects with magnetic fields.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Reko Hynönen ◽  
Eija I. Tanskanen ◽  
Patrizia Francia

The solar cycle evolution of the ultra-low frequency (ULF) power was studied in solar wind and on ground. We aim finding out how the ULF power in interplanetary and on ground magnetic field evolves over the solar cycle 23 (SC23) and how well do they follow each other in monthly time scales. The hourly power of the ULF waves was computed in the Pc5 frequency range 2–7 mHz for years 1998–2008. The highest wave power in SC23 is found to occur in late 2003 and the lowest at the solar minimum. Ground ULF power follows the IMF power and solar wind speed, particularly well during declining phase. The ULF power in winter exceeds the ULF power in other seasons during the declining phase of SC23, while equinoxes dominate in the ascending phase and the solar maximum. The ground ULF power was found to rise with magnetic latitude from 54° to 73°, after which Pc5 power decreases towards the polar cap. The Pc5 power in the auroral zone is larger in the nightside than the dayside due to substorm activity implying that magnetotail processes are an important contributor to the nightside ULF power.


2016 ◽  
Vol 121 (12) ◽  
pp. 11,766-11,779 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pokhotelov ◽  
I. J. Rae ◽  
K. R. Murphy ◽  
I. R. Mann ◽  
L. Ozeke

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Drozdov ◽  
Hayley Allison ◽  
Yuri Shprits ◽  
Nikita Aseev

<p>Radial diffusion is one of the dominant physical mechanisms that drives acceleration andloss of the radiation belt electrons due to wave-particle interactions with ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves, which makes it very important for radiation belt modeling and forecasting.  We investigate the sensitivity of several parameterizations of the radial diffusion including Brautigam and Albert (2000), Ozeke et al. (2014), Ali et al. (2016), and Liu et al. (2016) on long-term radiation belt modeling using the Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB) code.  Following previous studies, we first perform 1-D radial diffusion simulations.  To take into account effects of local acceleration and loss, we perform additional 3-D simulations, including pitch-angle, energy and mixed diffusion.</p>


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