Publication Date:
2018-10-02
Description:
A linear eigenmode analysis of the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling shows that the feedback instability leading to spontaneous formation of auroral arc structures remains unstable even in a case with strong vertical shear of horizontal ion flows induced by ion-neutral collisions in the E layer. For low-order Alfvén harmonics, the linear frequency and growth rate obtained by means of a height-resolved model of the ionosphere are comparable to those resulted from the height-integrated one, where fine vertical structures of the ionospheric density and magnetic field perturbations are well resolved in the former. The present result confirms validity of the height-integrated ionosphere model in the long parallel wavelength limit, as assumed in previous studies on the feedback instability. ©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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