The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Dayside reconnection under interplanetary magnetic field By-dominated conditions: The formation and movement of bending arcs

Dayside reconnection under interplanetary magnetic field By-dominated conditions: The formation and movement of bending arcs
Dayside reconnection under interplanetary magnetic field By-dominated conditions: The formation and movement of bending arcs
Based upon a survey of global auroral images collected by the Polar Ultraviolet Imager, Kullen et?al. (2002) subdivided polar cap auroral arcs into a number of categories, including that of “bending” arcs. We are concerned with those bending arcs that appear as a bifurcation of the dayside auroral oval and which subsequently form a spur intruding into the polar cap. Once formed, the spur moves poleward and antisunward over the lifetime of the arc. We propose that dayside bending arcs are ionospheric signatures of pulses of dayside reconnection and are therefore part of a group of transient phenomena associated with flux transfer events. We observe the formation and subsequent motion of a bending arc across the polar cap during a 30 min interval on 8 January 1999, and we show that this example is consistent with the proposed model. We quantify the motion of the arc and find it to be commensurate with the convection flows observed by both ground-based radar observations and space-based particle flow measurements. In addition, precipitating particles coincident with the arc appear to occur along open field lines, lending further support to the model.
2169-9380
2967-2978
Carter, J.A.
750f3f36-98fc-4729-acfe-60ded2bd23c1
Milan, S.E.
4495fdee-b600-43e5-99f7-6193a849b7f5
Fear, R.C.
8755b9ed-c7dc-4cbb-ac9b-56235a0431ab
Kullen, A.
9575b1dc-27c9-4367-b77a-045c1746ae39
Hairston, M.R.
2358dd0e-2a62-4cab-91eb-7140ed0fb5e7
Carter, J.A.
750f3f36-98fc-4729-acfe-60ded2bd23c1
Milan, S.E.
4495fdee-b600-43e5-99f7-6193a849b7f5
Fear, R.C.
8755b9ed-c7dc-4cbb-ac9b-56235a0431ab
Kullen, A.
9575b1dc-27c9-4367-b77a-045c1746ae39
Hairston, M.R.
2358dd0e-2a62-4cab-91eb-7140ed0fb5e7

Carter, J.A., Milan, S.E., Fear, R.C., Kullen, A. and Hairston, M.R. (2015) Dayside reconnection under interplanetary magnetic field By-dominated conditions: The formation and movement of bending arcs. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 120 (4), 2967-2978. (doi:10.1002/2014JA020809).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Based upon a survey of global auroral images collected by the Polar Ultraviolet Imager, Kullen et?al. (2002) subdivided polar cap auroral arcs into a number of categories, including that of “bending” arcs. We are concerned with those bending arcs that appear as a bifurcation of the dayside auroral oval and which subsequently form a spur intruding into the polar cap. Once formed, the spur moves poleward and antisunward over the lifetime of the arc. We propose that dayside bending arcs are ionospheric signatures of pulses of dayside reconnection and are therefore part of a group of transient phenomena associated with flux transfer events. We observe the formation and subsequent motion of a bending arc across the polar cap during a 30 min interval on 8 January 1999, and we show that this example is consistent with the proposed model. We quantify the motion of the arc and find it to be commensurate with the convection flows observed by both ground-based radar observations and space-based particle flow measurements. In addition, precipitating particles coincident with the arc appear to occur along open field lines, lending further support to the model.

Text
Carter_et_al-2015-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Space_Physics.pdf - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (5MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 2 March 2015
Published date: 1 April 2015
Organisations: Astronomy Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 394179
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/394179
ISSN: 2169-9380
PURE UUID: 31a61928-d5ce-4bde-b868-82b368abbe66
ORCID for R.C. Fear: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0589-7147

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 12 May 2016 11:27
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:49

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: J.A. Carter
Author: S.E. Milan
Author: R.C. Fear ORCID iD
Author: A. Kullen
Author: M.R. Hairston

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×