Wave Particle Interactions in the Inner Magnetosphere

Abstract

This contract funded a three year study of wave particle interactions and substorm dynamics in the inner magnetosphere. We completed the first ground/ satellite study of ion cyclotron waves generated near the plasmapause. We published several examples of waves observed simultaneously near the equator at L=4 by the DE 1 spacecraft on the ground. In three cases correlation analysis yielded estimates of wave group delay between the equatorial source region and the ground. Model calculations that used measured plasma parameters agreed with observational estimates. Among substorm related work, we extended an earlier study of pi2 signatures to lower latitudes to show that substorm onset signatures broaden in longitudinal extent with decreasing latitude. We showed that a pi2-based substorm detector would be a more reliable tool than one based on the AL index, and we developed and tested a simple pi2 index. The results showed that a more sophisticated pi2 index would result in fewer false detections. We also formulated and began testing a new hypothesis on the triggering of substorms.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA230493

Entities

People

  • W. J. Hughes

Organizations

  • Boston University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Assembly
  • Classification
  • Contracts
  • Correlation Analysis
  • Cyclotron Waves
  • Data Analysis
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Frequency
  • Geosynchronous Orbits
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Physics
  • Solar Wind
  • Space Plasmas

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space