ALBERT

Description: Direct evidence is presented for a causal relationship between lightning and strong electric field transients inside equatorial ionospheric density depletions. In fact, these whistler mode plasma waves may be the dominant electric field signal within such depletions. Optical lightning data from the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) satellite and global lightning location information from the World Wide Lightning Location Network are presented as independent verification that these electric field transients are caused by lightning. The electric field instrument on C/NOFS routinely measures lightning ]related electric field wave packets or sferics, associated with simultaneous measurements of optical flashes at all altitudes encountered by the satellite (401.867 km). Lightning ]generated whistler waves have abundant access to the topside ionosphere, even close to the magnetic equator.

Description: On December 14,2002, a NASA Black Brant X sounding rocket was launched equatorward from Ny Alesund, Spitzbergen (79 N) into the dayside cusp and subsequently cut across the open/closed field line boundary, reaching an apogee of771 km. The launch occurred during Bz negative conditions with strong By negative that was changing during the flight. SuperDarn (CUTLASS) radar and subsequent model patterns reveal a strong westward/poleward convection, indicating that the rocket traversed a rotational reversal in the afternoon merging cell. The payload returned DC electric and magnetic fields, plasma waves, energetic particle, suprathermal electron and ion, and thermal plasma data. We provide an overview of the main observations and focus on the DC electric field results, comparing the measured E x B plasma drifts in detail with the CUTLASS radar observations of plasma drifts gathered simultaneously in the same volume. The in situ DC electric fields reveal steady poleward flows within the cusp with strong shears at the interface of the closed/open field lines and within the boundary layer. We use the observations to discuss ionospheric signatures of the open/closed character of the cusp/low latitude boundary layer as a function of the IMF. The electric field and plasma density data also reveal the presence of very strong plasma irregularities with a large range of scales (10 m to 10 km) that exist within the open field line cusp region yet disappear when the payload was equatorward of the cusp on closed field lines. These intense low frequency wave observations are consistent with strong scintillations observed on the ground at Ny Alesund during the flight. We present detailed wave characteristics and discuss them in terms of Alfven waves and static irregularities that pervade the cusp region at all altitudes.

Description: The Fast Auroral Snapshot (FAST) spacecraft has encountered the Earth's cusp regions near its apogee of 4175 km on numerous occasions during its first two and half years of operations. The cusp encounters are identified by their signatures of keV dispersed ion injections of solar wind origin. The FAST instruments reveal a complex microphysics inherent to many, but not all, of the cusp regions encountered by the spacecraft, that often include upgoing ion beams within regions of downgoing electrons that may appear as series of inverted-V features with energies near a few hundred eV. In many instances, upgoing electron beams have also been observed. Intense (〉 100 mV/m) spikey DC-coupled electric fields and plasma waves are common features of the cusp encounters which also provide evidence for the presence of such local acceleration processes. In some cases, the FAST data show clear modulation of the precipitating magnetosheath ions indicative that they are affected by local electric potentials, as evidenced by simultaneous electron acceleration within such intervals. Furthermore, the acceleration events are sometimes organized with an apparent cellular structure that suggest Alfv6n waves or other large scale phenomena are controlling the localized potentials. We examine several cusp encounters in detail in order to study the complex relation of the cusp energetic particle populations with the plasma waves and DC electric fields.

Description: Two Black Brant IX sounding rockets were launched into the dark, dayside cusp near magnetic noon on December 2 and 3, 1997, from Ny Alesund, Spitzbergen at 79 deg N reaching altitudes of about 450 km. Real-time ground-based and Wind IMF data were used to determine the launch conditions. The first launch, with Bz north conditions, crossed into and back out of an open field region with merging poleward of the projected trajectory. The second flight, into Bz south conditions, was timed to coincide with an enhancement in the merging rate from a increase in the negative Bz, while the DMSP Fl 3 satellite was situated slightly to the north of the rocket trajectory. Each payload returned DC electric and magnetic fields, plasma waves, energetic particles, photometer data, and thermal plasma data. Data from both flights will be shown, with an emphasis on the DC electric field results. In particular, the data gathered on December 2, 1997 will be used to discuss ionospheric signatures of merging and the open/closed character of the the cusp/low latitude boundary layer. In contrast, the data gathered on December 3, 1997 shows evidence of pulsed electric field structures which will be examined in the context of cusp plasma entry processes. Both data sets returned a rich variety of plasma waves, as well as optical emissions and thermal plasma data.

Description: The phenomenon called flux transfer events (FTEs) is widely accepted as the manifestation of time-dependent reconnection. In this paper, we present observational evidence of a flux transfer event observed simultaneously at low-latitude by Polar and at high-latitude by Cluster. This event occurs on March 21, 2002, when both Cluster and Polar are located near local noon but with a large latitudinal separation. During the event, Cluster is moving outbound from the polar cusp to the magnetosheath, and Polar is in the magnetosheath near the equatorial magnetopause. The observations show that a flux transfer event occurs between the equator and the northern cusp. Polar and Cluster observe the FTE s two open flux tubes: Polar encounters the southward moving flux tube near the equator; and Cluster the northward moving flux tube at high latitude. The low latitude FTE appears to be a flux rope with helical magnetic field lines as it has a strong core field and the magnetic field component in the boundary normal direction exhibits a strong bi-polar variation. Unlike the low-latitude FTE, the high-latitude FTE observed by Cluster does not exhibit the characteristic bi-polar perturbation in the magnetic field. But the plasma data clearly reveal its open flux tube configuration. It shows that the magnetic field lines have straightened inside the FTE and become more aligned to the neighboring flux tubes as it moves to the cusp. Enhanced electrostatic fluctuations have been observed within the FTE core, both at low- and high-latitudes. This event provides a unique opportunity to understand high-latitude FTE signatures and the nature of time-varying reconnection.

Description: The Fast Auroral Snapshot (FAST) spacecraft has encountered the Earth's cusp regions on numerous occasions during its first few years of operations. Intense plasma waves are consistent features of these cusp encounters which are characterized by localized keV dispersed ion "Injections". Emissions observed near the lower hybrid frequency are frequently, though not always, observed in conjunction with the precipitating cusp ions. The waves are clearly electrostatic and often exhibit a bifuncation in frequency about the lower hybrid frequency. In some cases, numerous ion Bernstein waves are present, separated in frequency at harmonics near the local proton cyclotron frequency. An analysis of the measurements of the electric field components of the plasma waves gathered with FAST's spaced receivers (or interferometers) reveals their short wavelength characteristics. We examine several examples of such waves in detail in order to understand their growth mechanisms and to relate them with the cusp energetic particle populations.

Description: Plasma density structures are frequently encountered in the nighttime low-latitude ionosphere by probes on the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite. Of particular interest to us here are plasma density enhancements, which are typically observed +/- 15 deg away from the magnetic equator. The low inclination of the C/NOFS satellite offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine these structures and their associated electric fields and plasma velocities, including their field-aligned components, along an east-west trajectory. Among other observations, the data reveal a clear asymmetry in the velocity structure within and around these density enhancements. Previous observations have shown that the peak change in drift velocity associated with a density enhancement occurs simultaneously both perpendicular and parallel to the magnetic field, while the 1results in this paper show that the peak change in parallel fl ow typically occurs 25-100 km to the east of the peak perpendicular ow. We discuss this and other aspects of the observations in relation to the characteristics of the plasma depletions formed near the magnetic equator detected by the same probes on the C/NOFS satellite and to previous observations and theories.

Description: The Auroral Current and Electrodynamics Structure (ACES) mission consisted of two sounding rockets launched nearly simultaneously from Poker Flat Research Range, AK on January 29, 2009 into a dynamic multiple-arc aurora. The ACES rocket mission was designed to observe electrodynamic and plasma parameters above and within the current closure region of the auroral ionosphere. Two well instrumented payloads were flown along very similar magnetic field footprints, at different altitudes, with small temporal separation between both payloads. The higher altitude payload (apogee 360 km), obtained in-situ measurements of electrodynamic and plasma parameters above the current closure region to determine the input signature. The low altitude payload (apogee 130 km), made similar observations within the current closure region. Results are presented comparing observations of the electric fields, magnetic components, and the differential electron energy flux at magnetic footpoints common to both payloads. In situ data is compared to the ground based all-sky imager data, which presents the evolution of the auroral event as the payloads traversed through magnetically similar regions. Current measurements derived from the magnetometers on the high altitude payload observed upward and downward field-aligned currents. The effect of collisions with the neutral atmosphere is investigated to determine if it is a significant mechanism to explain discrepancies in the low energy electron flux. The high altitude payload also observed time-dispersed arrivals in the electron flux and perturbations in the electric and magnetic field components, which are indicative of Alfven waves.

Description: In-situ observations of a moderately strong mid-latitude sporadic-E layer show a separation in altitude between distinct sublayers composed of Fe(+), Mg(+), and NO(+). From these observations it is possible to estimate the zonal wind field consistent with diffusive equilibrium near the altitude of the layer. The amplitude of the zonal wind necessary to sustain the layer against diffusive effects is less than 10 meters per second, and the vertical wavelength is less than 10 km.

Description: We present in situ and ground-based measurements of the ratio k of ion cyclotronangular frequency to ion-neutral momentum transfer collision frequency to investigateionosphere-thermosphere (IT) coupling in the auroral E region. In situ observations were obtained by NASA sounding rocket 36.234, which was launched into the nightsideE region ionosphere at 1229 UT on 19 January 2007 from Poker Flat, AK. The payload carried instrumentation to determine ion drift angle and electric field vectors. Neutral winds were measured by triangulating a chemical tracer released from rocket 41.064 launched two minutes later. k is calculated from the rotation of the ion drift angle relative to the E-cross-B drift direction in a frame co-rotating with the payload. Between the altitudes of 118 km and 130 km k increases exponentially with a scale height of 9.3 +/- 0.7 km, deviating from an exponential above 130 km. k = 1 at an altitude z(sub0) of 119.9 +/- 0.5 km. The ratio was also estimated from Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR) measurements using the rotation of ion velocity with altitude. Exponential fits to the PFISR measurements made during the flight of 41.064 yield z(sub0) 115.9 +/- 1.2 km and a scale height of 9.1 +/- 1.0 km. Differences between in situ and ground-based measurements show that the E region atmospheric densities were structured vertically and/or horizontally on scales of 1 km to 10 km. There were no signs of ionospheric structure in ion density or ion temperature below scales of 1 km. The observations demonstrate the accuracy with which the in situ and PFISR data may be used as probes of IT coupling.