Doppler velocities observed by the Rankin Inlet (RKN) PolarDARN radar are assessed with a focus on data in the beams oriented roughly along the magnetic meridian. Hourly scatter plots for every month are built. They...Doppler velocities observed by the Rankin Inlet (RKN) PolarDARN radar are assessed with a focus on data in the beams oriented roughly along the magnetic meridian. Hourly scatter plots for every month are built. They are shown to vary widely, with median values showing very clear magnetic local time variation with maximum magnitude during pre-noon and pre-midnight hours. The histograms contain a significant amount of very small velocity data that dominates at farther ranges and during the daytime. Near noon data show generally antisunward flows but at large ranges/magnetic latitudes and very close to noon, sunward flows occur for periods of positive IMF Bz. The reverse flows are stronger during spring equinox. The velocity magnitude was found to depend linearly on the IMF Be and interplanetary electric field. Velocities are often found to be smaller than those expected from the statistical convection model of Ruohoniemi and Greenwald -1996.展开更多
A new empirical model of plasmapause location as functions of magnetic local time and geomagnetic indices has been developed based on the observations from THEMIS mission. We use the two-year data of electron density ...A new empirical model of plasmapause location as functions of magnetic local time and geomagnetic indices has been developed based on the observations from THEMIS mission. We use the two-year data of electron density inferred from spacecraft potential to identify the plasmapause crossings and create a database of plasmapause locations. The database is further used to build up an empirical model of plasmapause related to magnetic local time based on the equation from O'Brien and Moldwin(2003). The new model is compared with previous plasmapause location models. It is found that our newly developed model is the best in predicting plasmapause locations among the existing models. The models based on Kp and Dst indices are better than the model based on AE index, suggesting that the plasmapause location is controlled by large scale convection of the magnetosphere.展开更多
基金supported by NSERC Discovery grant to AVK and the University of Saskatchewan graduate stipend to MG
文摘Doppler velocities observed by the Rankin Inlet (RKN) PolarDARN radar are assessed with a focus on data in the beams oriented roughly along the magnetic meridian. Hourly scatter plots for every month are built. They are shown to vary widely, with median values showing very clear magnetic local time variation with maximum magnitude during pre-noon and pre-midnight hours. The histograms contain a significant amount of very small velocity data that dominates at farther ranges and during the daytime. Near noon data show generally antisunward flows but at large ranges/magnetic latitudes and very close to noon, sunward flows occur for periods of positive IMF Bz. The reverse flows are stronger during spring equinox. The velocity magnitude was found to depend linearly on the IMF Be and interplanetary electric field. Velocities are often found to be smaller than those expected from the statistical convection model of Ruohoniemi and Greenwald -1996.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41104109,41274166)the Specialized Research Fund for State Space Weather Key Laboratories(Grant No.201203FSK05)
文摘A new empirical model of plasmapause location as functions of magnetic local time and geomagnetic indices has been developed based on the observations from THEMIS mission. We use the two-year data of electron density inferred from spacecraft potential to identify the plasmapause crossings and create a database of plasmapause locations. The database is further used to build up an empirical model of plasmapause related to magnetic local time based on the equation from O'Brien and Moldwin(2003). The new model is compared with previous plasmapause location models. It is found that our newly developed model is the best in predicting plasmapause locations among the existing models. The models based on Kp and Dst indices are better than the model based on AE index, suggesting that the plasmapause location is controlled by large scale convection of the magnetosphere.