Driving dayside convection with northward IMF: Observations by a sounding rocket launched from Svalbard

Abstract

The first sounding rocket flight into the dayside cusp with dark ground and northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions was launched from the new SvalRak range at Ny‐Ålesund in the Svalbard archipelago in early December 1997. Extensive ground observations of auroral emissions and radar backscatter provided contexts for in situ rocket measurements. Real‐time interplanetary measurements from the Wind satellite aided launch selection with foreknowledge of impending conditions. NASA rocket flight 36.153 was launched near local magnetic noon while the IMF was dominated by positive BX and had lesser northward BZ and negative BY components. The rocket's westward trajectory carried it toward auroral forms associated with morningside boundary layers. The rich set of vector dc electric and magnetic fields, energetic particles, thermal plasma, plasma waves, and optical emissions gathered by the rocket reveal a complex electrodynamic picture of the cusp/boundary‐layer region. Four factors were important in separating temporal and spatial effects: (1) Near the winter solstice the Earth's north magnetic pole tilts away from the Sun, (2) at the UT of the flight the dipole axis was rotated toward dawn, (3) the variability of solar wind driving was low, and (4) BX was the dominant IMF component. We conclude that no signatures of dayside merging in the Northern Hemisphere were detected in either the rocket or ground sensors. Electric field variations in the interplanetary medium directly correlate with those observed by the sounding rocket, with significantly shorter lag times than estimated for simple propagation between Wind and the ionosphere. The correlation requires that the observed Northern Hemisphere convection structures were stirred in part by merging of the IMF with closed field lines in the Southern Hemisphere, thereby adding open flux to the northern polar cap. Subsequent motions of adiaroic polar cap boundaries were detected in the rocket electric field measurements. The observations indicate that IMF BX significantly affected the location and timing of merging interactions.