Understanding the controlling factors of Ultra-Low Frequency waves and their penetration during geomagnetic storms

Abstract

<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>