Spatio-temporal development of large scale auroral electrojet currents relative to substorm onsets

During auroral substorms the electric currents flowing in the ionosphere change rapidly and a large amount of energy is dissipated in the auroral ionosphere. An important part of the auroral current system are the auroral electrojets whose profiles can be estimated from magnetic field measurements from Low Earth Orbit satellites. In this paper we combine electrojet data derived from the Swarm satellite mission of ESA with the substorm database derived from the SuperMAG ground magnetometer network data. We organize the electrojet data in relation to the location and time of the onset and obtain statistics for the development of the integrated current and latitudinal location for the auroral electrojets relative to the onset. The major features of the behaviour of the westward electrojet are found to be in accordance with earlier studies of field aligned currents and ground magnetometer observations of substorm time statistics. In addition we show that after the onset the latitudinal location of the maximum of the westward electrojet determined from Swarm satellite data is mostly located close to the SuperMAG onset latitude in the local time sector of the onset regardless of where the onset happens. We also show that the SuperMAG onset corresponds to a strengthening of the order of 100 kA in the amplitude of the median of the westward integrated current in the Swarm data from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after the onset.

Spatio-temporal development of large scale auroral electrojet currents relative to substorm onsets

<p>The electric currents flowing in the ionosphere change rapidly and a large amount of energy is dissipated in the auroral ionosphere during auroral substorms. An important part of the auroral current system are the auroral electrojets whose profiles can be estimated from magnetic field measurements from low Earth orbit satellites. We have combined electrojet data derived from the Swarm satellite mission of ESA with the substorm database derived from the SuperMAG ground network data. We organize the electrojet data in relation to the location of the onset and obtain statistics for the development of the integrated current and latitudinal location for the auroral electrojets relative to the onset. Especially we show that just after the onset the latitudinal location of the maximum of the westward electrojet determined from Swarm satellite data is mostly located close to the onset latitude in the local time sector of the onset regardless of where the onset happens.</p>

A global climatological model of extreme geomagnetic field fluctuations

This paper presents a multi-parameter global statistical model of extreme horizontal geomagnetic field fluctuations (dBH/dt), which are a useful input to models assessing the risk of geomagnetically induced currents in ground infrastructure. Generalised Pareto (GP) distributions were fitted to 1-min measurements of |dBH/dt| from 125 magnetometers (with an average of 28 years of data per site) and return levels (RL) predicted for return periods (RP) between 5 and 500 years. Analytical functions characterise the profiles of maximum-likelihood GP model parameters and the derived RLs as a function of corrected geomagnetic latitude, λ. A sharp peak in both the GP shape parameter and the RLs is observed at |λ| = 53° in both hemispheres, indicating a sharp equatorward limit of the auroral electrojet region. RLs also increase strongly in the dayside region poleward of the polar cusp (|λ| > 75°) for RPs > 100 years. We describe how the GP model may be further refined by modelling the probability of occurrences of |dBH/dt| exceeding the 99.97th percentile as a function of month, magnetic local time, and the direction of the field fluctuation, dBH, and demonstrate that these patterns of occurrence align closely to known patterns of auroral substorm onsets, ULF Pc5 wave activity, and (storm) sudden commencement impacts. Changes in the occurrence probability profiles with the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation reveal further details of the nature of the ionospheric currents driving extreme |dBH/dt| fluctuations, such as the changing location of the polar cusp and seasonal variations explained by the Russell-McPherron effect.

Characteristic study of double substorm onsets in response to IMF variations

A study of the characteristics of double substorm onsets in response to variations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is undertaken with magnetotail and ground observations by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission on 18 March 2009 and 3 April 2009 (Kp ~ 0), and on 16 February 2008 and 24 February 2010 (Kp ~ 2–3). During the time of interest, THEMIS probes at −8RE > XGSM > −20RE and 5RE > YGSM > −5RE observed earth-bound flow bursts accompanied by magnetic dipolarizations varying in two stages. The keograms and all sky images close to their footprints showed two consecutive auroral breakups of which the first appeared at lower latitudes than the second. The ground-based magnetometers sensed magnetic bays and perturbations resulting from the formation of substorm current wedge. Two consecutive pulsations in the Pi2-Ps6 band period occurred simultaneously from high to low and very low latitudes. They appeared in the same cycle of growth and then decline in Kyoto-AL. The onset timing of ground pulsations mapped to the solar wind observation just in front of Earth’s magnetopause shows their occurrence under an IMF variation cycle of north-to-south and then north. Their dynamic spectrums have the spectral features of double substorm onsets triggered by northward IMF turning. Hence in response to IMF variations, double substorm onsets can be characterized with two-stage magnetic dipolarizations in the magnetotail, two auroral breakups of which the first occurring at lower latitudes than the second, and two consecutive Pi2-Ps6 band pulsations.