Strong Interplanetary Magnetic Field Research Articles

The High Latitude Ionospheric Response to the Major May 2024 Geomagnetic Storm: A Synoptic View

AbstractThe high latitude ionospheric evolution of the May 10‐11, 2024, geomagnetic storm is investigated in terms of Total Electron Content and contextualized with Incoherent Scatter Radar and ionosonde observations. Substantial plasma lifting is observed within the initial Storm Enhanced Density plume with ionospheric peak heights increasing by 150–300 km, reaching levels of up to 630 km. Scintillation is observed within the cusp during the initial expansion phase of the storm, spreading across the auroral oval thereafter. Patch transport into the polar cap produces broad regions of scintillation that are rapidly cleared from the region after a strong Interplanetary Magnetic Field reversal at 2230UT. Strong heating and composition changes result in the complete absence of the F2‐layer on the eleventh, suffocating high latitude convection from dense plasma necessary for Tongue of Ionization and patch formation, ultimately resulting in a suppression of polar cap scintillation on the eleventh.

North–South Plasma Asymmetry Across Mercury's Near‐Tail Current Sheet

AbstractAmong nearly 300 near‐Mercury tail current sheet crossings performed by the MESSENGER spacecraft, we identified 37 traversals of an asymmetric current sheet, wherein the lobe densities on opposite sides differ by a factor of three or more. These asymmetric current sheet crossings primarily occur on the dawnside. A global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation was found to be in excellent agreement with the observations. The results suggest that the north–south density asymmetry is caused by solar wind entering via an upstream‐connected window in one hemisphere. Furthermore, the Parker spiral interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) controls the near‐tail density asymmetries, whereas Mercury's offset dipole magnetic field controls those in mid‐ or distant‐tail regions. We propose that hemispheric asymmetries in Mercury's magnetospheric convection occur under strong IMF conditions.

Interplanetary Control of High‐Latitude Thermospheric Winds: Results From HIWIND and Model Simulations

AbstractBased on the observations from the balloon‐borne instrument High‐altitude Interferometer WIND experiment (HIWIND) and the simulations from the Thermosphere Ionosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM), the Grid Agnostic MHD Environment for Research Applications (GAMERA)‐TIEGCM (GT), and the GAMERA‐TIEGCM‐RCM (GTR), we investigate the variations of summer high‐latitude thermospheric winds and their physical mechanisms from 25 to 30 June, 2018. HIWIND observations show that the meridional winds were the largest at midnight and exhibited strong day‐to‐day variations during the 6‐day period, which were generally reproduced by those three models. The day‐to‐day variations of winds were mainly associated with the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) perturbations, while the magnetic latitude variations also contributed to the large day‐to‐day variations of the winds seen in the observations. Meanwhile, the zonal winds were mostly westward during the daytime, and the wind speed became large, especially in the afternoon, which is related to the westward ion drift velocity. The observed meridional winds tend to turn equatorward during the daytime on some days, while the simulated winds blow mostly poleward except for simulations by the GTR model on 26 June. The GTR model revealed that the equatorward meridional winds on 26 June were associated with strong and negative IMF conditions, which tilts the convection pattern to the prenoon sector. The simulations also revealed that the ring current could contribute to affecting the neutral wind variations, especially under geomagnetically active conditions.

Probing the Magnetosheath Boundaries Using Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) Orbital Encounters.

Inside the magnetosheath, the IBEX‐Hi energetic neutral atom (ENA) imager measures a distinct background count rate that is more than 10 times the typical heliospheric ENA emissions observed when IBEX is outside the magnetosheath. The source of this enhancement is magnetosheath ions of solar wind (SW) origin that deflect around the Earth's magnetopause (MP), scatter and neutralize from the anti‐sunward part of the IBEX‐Hi sunshade, and continue into the instrument as neutral atoms, behaving indistinguishably from ENAs emitted from distant plasma sources. While this background pollutes observations of outer heliospheric ENAs, it provides a clear signature of IBEX crossings over the magnetospheric boundaries. In this study, we investigate IBEX encounters with the magnetosheath boundaries using ∼8 yr of orbital data, and we determine the MP and bow shock (BS) locations derived from this background signal. We find 280 BS crossings from X GSE ∼ 11 Re to X GSE ∼ −36 Re and 241 MP crossings from X GSE ∼ 6 Re to X GSE ∼ −48 Re. We compare IBEX BS and MP crossing locations to those from IMP‐8, Geotail, Cluster, Magion‐4, ISEE, and Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, and we find that IBEX crossing locations overlap with the BS and MP locations inferred from these other data sets. In this paper, we demonstrate how IBEX can be used to identify magnetosheath crossings, and extend boundary observations well past the terminator, thus further constraining future models of magnetosheath boundaries. Furthermore, we use the IBEX data set to show observational evidence of near‐Earth magnetotail squeezing during periods of strong interplanetary magnetic field B y.

The semiannual variation of transpolar arc incidence and its relationship to the Russell–McPherron effect

Earth’s aurora is a luminescent phenomenon generated by the interaction between magnetospheric precipitating particles and the upper atmosphere; it plays an important role in magnetosphere–ionosphere (M-I) coupling. The transpolar arc (TPA) is a discrete auroral arc distributed in the noon-midnight direction poleward of the auroral oval and connects the dayside to the nightside sectors of the auroral oval. Studying the seasonal variation of TPA events can help us better understand the long-term variation of the interaction between the solar wind, the magnetosphere, and M-I coupling. However, a statistical study of the seasonal variation of TPA incidence has not previously been carried out. In this paper, we have identified 532 TPA events from the IMAGE database (2000–2005) and the Polar database (1996–2002), and calculated the incidence of TPA events for different months. We find a semiannual variation in TPA incidence. Clear peaks in the incidence of TPAs occur in March and September; a less pronounced peak appears in November. We also examine seasonal variation in the northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) over the same time period. The intensity and occurrence rate of the northward IMF exhibit patterns similar to that of the TPA incidence. Having studied IMF Bz before TPA onset, we find that strong and steady northward IMF conditions are favorable for TPA formation. We suggest that the semiannual variation observed in TPA incidence may be related to the Russell–McPherron (R-M) effect due to the projection effect of the IMF By under northward IMF conditions.

Studying Dawn‐Dusk Asymmetries of Mercury's Magnetotail Using MHD‐EPIC Simulations

AbstractMESSENGER has observed a lot of dawn‐dusk asymmetries in Mercury's magnetotail, such as the asymmetries of the cross‐tail current sheet thickness and the occurrence of flux ropes, dipolarization events, and energetic electron injections. In order to obtain a global pictures of Mercury's magnetotail dynamics and the relationship between these asymmetries, we perform global simulations with the magnetohydrodynamics with embedded particle‐in‐cell (MHD‐EPIC) model, where Mercury's magnetotail region is covered by a PIC code. Our simulations show that the dawnside current sheet is thicker, the plasma density is larger, and the electron pressure is higher than the duskside. Under a strong interplanetary magnetic field driver, the simulated reconnection sites prefer the dawnside. We also found the dipolarization events and the planetward electron jets are moving dawnward while they are moving toward the planet, so that almost all dipolarization events and high‐speed plasma flows concentrate in the dawn sector. The simulation results are consistent with MESSENGER observations.

Mass and Energy Transfer Across the Earth's Magnetopause Caused by Vortex‐Induced Reconnection

AbstractWhen the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is strongly northward, a boundary layer that contains a considerable amount of plasma of magnetosheath origin is often observed along and earthward of the low‐latitude magnetopause. Such a preexisting boundary layer, with a higher density than observed in the adjacent magnetosphere, reduces the local Alfvén speed and allows the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability to grow more strongly. We employ a three‐dimensional fully kinetic simulation to model an event observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in which the spacecraft detected substantial KH waves between a preexisting boundary layer and the magnetosheath during strong northward IMF. Initial results of this simulation have successfully demonstrated ion‐scale signatures of magnetic reconnection induced by the nonlinearly developed KH vortex, which are quantitatively consistent with MMS observations. We further quantify the simulated mass and energy transfer processes driven by this vortex‐induced reconnection (VIR) and show that during this particular MMS event, (i) mass enters a new mixing layer formed by the VIR more efficiently from the preexisting boundary layer side than from the magnetosheath side, (ii) mixed plasmas within the new mixing layer convect tailward along the magnetopause at more than half the magnetosheath flow speed, and (iii) energy dissipation in localized VIR dissipation regions results in a strong parallel electron heating within the mixing layer. The quantitative agreements between the simulation and MMS observations allow new predictions that elucidate how the mass and energy transfer processes occur near the magnetopause during strong northward IMF.

The Delayed Time Response of Geomagnetic Activity to the Solar Wind

AbstractWe investigate the lagged correlation between a selection of geomagnetic indices and solar wind parameters for a complete solar cycle, from 2000 to 2011. We first discuss the mathematical assumptions required for such a correlation analysis. The solar wind parameters and geomagnetic indices have inherent timescales that smooth the variations of the correlation coefficients with time lag. Furthermore, the solar wind structure associated with corotating interaction regions and coronal mass ejections, and the compression regions ahead of them, strongly impacts the lagged correlation analysis results. This work shows that such bias must be taken into account in a correct interpretation of correlations. We then evidence that the magnetospheric response time to solar wind parameters involves multiple timescales. The simultaneous and quick response of the PC and AE indices to solar wind dynamic pressure with a delay of ~5 min suggests that magnetospheric compression by solar wind can trigger substorm activity. We find that the PC and AE indices respond to interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) BZ with a response time of respectively ~20 and ~35 min. The response of the SYM‐H index takes longer (~80 min) and is less sharp, SYM‐H being statistically significantly correlated to the IMF BZ observed up to more than ~10 h before. Our results suggest that the solar wind velocity's dominant impact on geomagnetic activity is caused by the compression regions at the interface of fast/slow solar wind regimes, which are very geo‐effective as they are associated with high solar wind pressure and strong interplanetary magnetic field.

Global view of the E region irregularity and convection velocities in the high‐latitude Southern Hemisphere

AbstractOccurrence of the E region plasma irregularities is investigated using two Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) South Pole (SPS) and Zhongshan (ZHO) radars that sample the same magnetic latitude deep within the high‐latitude plasma convection pattern but from two opposite directions. It is shown that the SPS and ZHO velocity distributions and their variations with the magnetic local time are different, with each distribution being asymmetric; i.e., a particular velocity polarity is predominant. This asymmetry in the E region velocity distribution is associated with the bump‐on‐tail of the distribution near the nominal ion acoustic speed Cs that is most likely due to the Farley‐Buneman instability (FBI) echoes or an inflection point of the distribution below nominal Cs that is most likely due to the gradient drift instability echoes. In contrast, the distribution of the convection velocity component was found to be symmetric, i.e., with no bump‐on‐tail or an inflection point, but with a bias (i.e., uniform shift) toward a particular polarity. It is demonstrated that the asymmetry in the convection pattern between the eastward and westward zonal components is unexpectedly strong, with the westward zonal component being predominant, especially at lower latitudes, while also exhibiting a strong interplanetary magnetic field By dependence. The observations are consistent with the notion that the asymmetry in the E region velocity distribution is highly sensitive to the bias in the convection component caused by the zonal convection component asymmetry and that the bump‐on‐tail or inflection point features may also depend on the irregularity height and the presence of strong density gradients modifying the FBI threshold value.

MAVEN observations on a hemispheric asymmetry of precipitating ions toward the Martian upper atmosphere according to the upstream solar wind electric field

AbstractThe Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) observations show that the global spatial distribution of ions precipitating toward the Martian upper atmosphere has a highly asymmetric pattern relative to the upstream solar wind electric field. MAVEN observations indicate that precipitating planetary heavy ion fluxes measured in the downward solar wind electric field (−E) hemisphere are generally larger than those measured in the upward electric field (+E) hemisphere, as expected from modeling. The −E (+E) hemispheres are defined by the direction of solar wind electric field pointing toward (or away from) the planet. On the other hand, such an asymmetric precipitating pattern relative to the solar wind electric field is less clear around the terminator. Strong precipitating fluxes are sometimes found even in the +E field hemisphere under either strong upstream solar wind dynamic pressure or strong interplanetary magnetic field periods. The results imply that those intense precipitating ion fluxes are observed when the gyroradii of pickup ions are estimated to be relatively small compared with the planetary scale. Therefore, the upstream solar wind parameters are important factors in controlling the global spatial pattern and flux of ions precipitating into the Martian upper atmosphere.

Seasonal and solar cycle variations in the ionospheric convection reversal boundary location inferred from monthly SuperDARN data sets

Abstract. Multi-year (1995–2013) velocity data collected by the Super Dual Auroral Network (SuperDARN) HF radars are considered to investigate seasonal and solar cycle variations of the convection reversal boundary (CRB) location for interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz < 0. By considering monthly data sets we show that the CRB is at higher latitudes in summer between 1995 and 2007. The poleward shifts are on the order of 2–5°. After 2007, the seasonal effect weakens, and the highest latitudes for the CRB start to occur during the winter time. We show that the CRB latitudes decrease with an increase of the IMF transverse component at a rate of (1–2°)/2 nT. Because of this effect, on average, the CRB latitudes are lower during high solar activity periods with stronger IMFs. We also confirm the effect of the CRB dawn-dusk shifts related to the IMF changes in the IMF By sign.

A critical note on the IAGA-endorsed Polar Cap index procedure: effects of solar wind sector structure and reverse polar convection

Abstract. The International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) has recently endorsed a new Polar Cap (PC) index version to supersede the previous seven different versions of the PCN (North) index and the five different PCS (South) index versions. However, the new PC index has some adverse features which should be known and taken into account by users of the index. It uses in its derivation procedure an "effective" quiet day level (QDC) composed of a "basic" QDC and an added solar wind sector term related to the azimuthal component (By) of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The added IMF By-related terms may introduce unjustified contributions to the PC index of more than 2 index units (mV m−1). Furthermore, cases of reverse convection during strong northward IMF Bz (NBZ) conditions included in the database for calculation of index coefficients can cause unjustified index enhancements of 0.5–1 mV m−1 during calm conditions, reduction of index values by more than 20 % during disturbed conditions, and inconsistencies between index coefficients and index values for the northern and southern polar caps. The aim here is to specify these adverse features and quantify their effects, and to suggest alternative steps for future modifications of the index procedure.

Solar wind control of ionospheric equivalent currents and their time derivatives

AbstractA solid understanding of the solar wind control of ground magnetic field disturbances is essential for utilizing the existing long time series of ground data to obtain information on solar wind‐magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling. We have used 20 years of International Monitor for Auroral Geomagnetic Effects magnetometer data (54°–76° magnetic latitude) to study the solar wind control of the ionospheric equivalent current density and its time derivative (<|dJeq/dt|>). We found that <|dJeq/dt|> peaks at the premidnight and prenoon ends of the westward electrojet. The prenoon <|dJeq/dt|> peak was most intense during fast solar wind and radial interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The location of the peak was not affected by the IMF orientation but persisted at 8–10 magnetic local time and 70°–75° latitude, near the boundary between the westward and eastward electrojets. Sensitivity of this boundary to disturbances was suggested as a possible explanation for the persistent prenoon location of the peak. The premidnight peak was most intense during southward IMF orientation. While faster solar wind mainly resulted in more intense <|dJeq/dt|> in the premidnight sector, stronger IMF caused the region of intense <|dJeq/dt|> to spread to the postmidnight, dawn, and dusk sectors. A good correspondence was found between development of the nightside <|dJeq/dt|> intensification and average substorm bulge and oval aurora as determined by Gjerloev et al. (2007). The bulge aurora covered the western end of the westward electrojet where the equivalent current also had a significant poleward component. The substorm oval aurora, on the other hand, extended eastward along the westward electrojet.

O<sup>+</sup> transport in the dayside magnetosheath and its dependence on the IMF direction

Abstract. Recent studies have shown that the escape of oxygen ions (O+) into the magnetosheath along open magnetic field lines from the terrestrial cusp and mantle is significant. We present a study of how O+ transport in the dayside magnetosheath depends on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) direction. There are clear asymmetries in the O+ flows for southward and northward IMF. The asymmetries can be understood in terms of the different magnetic topologies that arise due to differences in the location of the reconnection site, which depends on the IMF direction. During southward IMF, most of the observed magnetosheath O+ is transported downstream. In contrast, for northward IMF we observe O+ flowing both downstream and equatorward towards the opposite hemisphere. We observe evidence of dual-lobe reconnection occasionally taking place during strong northward IMF conditions, a mechanism that may trap O+ and bring it back into the magnetosphere. Its effect on the overall escape is however small: we estimate the upper limit of trapped O+ to be 5%, a small number considering that ion flux calculations are rough estimates. The total O+ escape flux is higher by about a factor of 2 during times of southward IMF, in agreement with earlier studies of O+ cusp outflow.

An automated identification method for Alfvénic streams and their geoeffectiveness

Previous statistical studies have found a close relationship between high‐speed streams and high‐latitude geomagnetic activity. The speed by itself would increase the geoeffectivity of the solar wind. But it is also believed that pure Alfvénic fluctuations, often found in the trailing part of the streams, play a role in the solar wind driving of geomagnetic activity by amplifying the north‐south component of the magnetic field (BZ), and thereby the dayside reconnection electric field. By automatically identifying slow and fast solar wind streams and by analyzing them for more than one solar cycle, we aimed to study the relation between speed, Alfvénicity, and BZ in the solar wind. It was found out that streams, whose trailing parts are dominated by pure Alfvénic fluctuations, are the most geoeffective streams on average. However, it is not the pure Alfvénic fluctuations themselves which cause the streams to be more geoeffective. There is only a variation of about 10% in BZ due to the Alfvénicity of the fluctuations. Instead the streams are more geoeffective because the pure Alfvénic fluctuations tend to occur during high‐solar wind speed and strong interplanetary magnetic field. There is a substantial variation within the solar cycle of how Alfvénic the solar‐wind streams are, and years with many extremely Alfvénic streams tend to have more days with moderately large geoeffectivity. The list of solar wind streams is included as extra material to this paper.

Alfvén Mach number and IMF clock angle dependencies of sunward flow channels in the magnetosphere

[1] Interplanetary coronal mass ejections associated with strong interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) By have been shown to enhance the neutral density in low Earth orbit. The enhancement has been linked to strong downward Poynting fluxes embedded within ionospheric channels of significant sunward ExB drift (2000–3000 m/s). Here we present MHD results describing the magnetospheric counterpart of the ionospheric flow channel that Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) encountered on 15 May 2005. It is shown that the clock angle of maximum sunward flow (θFC) depends on the IMF clock angle θFC = α * θIMF − 1.3° with α = (0.30, 0.38, 0.43, 0.45) at X = (4, 2, 0, −2) RE. This is poleward of the magnetic null point region. The flow also depends on the solar wind Alfvén Mach number Vx = Vx0 − δv * MA. The critical MA = Vx0 / δV for Vx = 0 decreases from MA = 3.42 (X = 4 RE) to MA = 2.40 (X = −2 RE). The low MA and θIMF conditions that characterized the X = 2 RE flow and resulted in strong Poynting flux occurred for 16% of all 167 h in 1998–2008 with Dst < −180 nT.

Equatorial trench at the magnetopause under saturation

Magnetic data from GOES geosynchronous satellites were applied for statistical study of the low‐latitude dayside magnetopause under a strong interplanetary magnetic field of southward orientation when the reconnection at the magnetopause was saturated. From minimum variance analysis, we determined the magnetopause orientation and compared it with predictions of a reference model. The magnetopause shape was found to be substantially distorted by a duskward shifting such that the nose region appeared in the postnoon sector. At equatorial latitudes, the shape of magnetopause was characterized by a prominent bluntness and by a trench formed in the postnoon sector. The origin of distortions was regarded in the context of the storm‐time magnetospheric currents and the large‐scale quasi‐state reconnection at the dayside magnetopause.

Intense dayside Joule heating during the 5 April 2010 geomagnetic storm recovery phase observed by AMIE and AMPERE

When the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is northward, dawnward, or duskward, magnetic merging between the IMF and the geomagnetic field occurs near the cusp of the magnetosphere. While these periods are usually considered “quiet,” they can lead to intense, but highly localized, energy deposition into the dayside ionosphere. We identify such an occurrence during a series of two geomagnetic storms on 5 April 2010. Using data from the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) for the first time as an input to the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) algorithm, we show that during the recovery phase of the first storm there is intense ionospheric Joule heating in the dayside polar regions. This is associated with an intense field‐aligned current pair near the noon meridian that is associated with northward IMF and a strong IMF By component. AMIE outputs are used to drive the thermosphere‐ionosphere‐mesosphere electrodynamics general circulation model to demonstrate that the intense levels of Joule heating can lead to anomalous thermospheric density enhancements and traveling disturbances.

On the azimuthal location of auroral breakup: Hemispheric asymmetry

We study the effects of the azimuthal component of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and the Earth's dipole tilt angle (larger DTA means northern winter) on the magnetic local time of auroral breakup using 2539 previously published events. It is found that in the Northern Hemisphere the location of auroral breakup occur the earliest for the IMF By+/DTA+ paring and the latest for the IMF By−/DTA− pairing. The ordering is opposite in the Southern Hemisphere for the same conditions. A similar result is obtained if the DTA is replaced by the solar zenith angle. We did not find a strong IMF clock angle effect on the north–south azimuthal onset displacement as reported previously. We interpret the observed hemispheric asymmetry as a result of an additional By field in the plasma sheet associated with IMF By and dipole tilt and/or a day‐night gradient in ionospheric conductivity, skewing of the tail field azimuthally.

Contributions of Heating and Forcing to the High-Latitude Lower Thermosphere: Dependence on the Interplanetary Magnetic Field

To better understand the physical processes that maintain the high-latitude lower thermospheric dynamics, we have identified relative contributions of the momentum forcing and the heating to the high-latitude lower thermospheric winds depending on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and altitude. For this study, we performed a term analysis of the potential vorticity equation for the high-latitude neutral wind field in the lower thermosphere during the southern summertime for different IMF conditions, with the aid of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere-Ionosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (NCAR-TIEGCM). Difference potential vorticity forcing and heating terms, obtained by subtracting values with zero IMF from those with non-zero IMF, are influenced by the IMF conditions. The difference forcing is more significant for strong IMF <TEX>$B_y$</TEX> condition than for strong IMF <TEX>$B_z$</TEX> condition. For negative or positive <TEX>$B_y$</TEX> conditions, the difference forcings in the polar cap are larger by a factor of about 2 than those in the auroral region. The difference heating is the most significant for negative IMF <TEX>$B_z$</TEX> condition, and the difference heatings in the auroral region are larger by a factor of about 1.5 than those in the polar cap region. The magnitudes of the difference forcing and heating decrease rapidly with descending altitudes. It is confirmed that the contribution of the forcing to the high-latitude lower thermospheric dynamics is stronger than the contribution of the heating to it. Especially, it is obvious that the contribution of the forcing to the dynamics is much larger in the polar cap region than in the auroral region and at higher altitude than at lower altitude. It is evident that when <TEX>$B_z$</TEX> is negative condition the contribution of the forcing is the lowest and the contribution of the heating is the highest among the different IMF conditions.