Pi2 Pulsations and the Westward Traveling Surge in the Magnetosphere - Ionosphere Coupling.

Abstract

The dynamics of the westward travelling surge (WTS) is studied in a magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling model. It is shown that the motion of the WTS is governed by the combined effects of the magnetospheric Alfven time scale and the ionospheric recombination time scale. The surge is found to move at variable speeds: the speed is around 6 km/sec westward and less than 1 km/sec northward near the onset of the surge; thereafter, it oscillates irregularly and decreases toward zero. The polar cap potential difference is found to oscillate irregularly as it increases toward the enhanced convection level. The irregular oscillations found in our results are believed to be a general property of mulit-time-scale problems. Keywords: Westward traveling surge; Alfven waves; Magnetosphere ionosphere coupling; Conductivity profiles.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADA180270

Entities

People

  • J. R. Kan

Organizations

  • University of Alaska Fairbanks

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force
  • Convection
  • Couplings
  • Current Density
  • Electric Fields
  • Electron Energy
  • Electrons
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • High Latitudes
  • Ionosphere
  • Magnetosphere
  • Polar Cap
  • Regions
  • Space Charge
  • Voltage

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.