Generation of auroral turbulence through the magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling

Abstract

The shear Alfvén waves coupled with the ionospheric density fluctuations in auroral regions of a planetary magnetosphere are modeled by a set of the reduced magnetohydrodynamic and two-fluid equations. When the drift velocity of the magnetized plasma due to the background electric field exceeds a critical value, the magnetosphere–ionosphere (M–I) coupling system is unstable to the feedback instability which leads to formation of auroral arc structures with ionospheric density and current enhancements. As the feedback (primary) instability grows, a secondary mode appears and deforms the auroral structures. A perturbative (quasilinear) analysis clarifies the secondary growth of the Kelvin–Helmholtz type instability driven by the primary instability growth in the feedback M–I coupling. In the nonlinear stage of the feedback instability, furthermore, auroral turbulence is spontaneously generated, where the equipartition of kinetic and magnetic energy is confirmed in the quasi-steady turbulence.