We investigate how magnetic fields guide energetic particles through the corona into interplanetary space and eventually to a spacecraft near the Earth. A set of seven simple particle events is studied, where energetic electrons (30-500 keV; Wind spacecraft) or protons (5-55 MeV; SoHO) were released together with low-energy electron beams producing metric-to-kilometric type III emission. Imaging of the coronal (metre-wave) part of this emission with the Nançay Radioheliograph is used to identify the open flux tubes that guide these electrons -and by inference all particles detected at 1 AU. Open coronal field lines are also computed using potential magnetic field extrapolations, constrained by a source surface and by SoHO/MDI measurements in the photosphere (code by Schrijver and DeRosa). We find that in all events the type III radio sources lie in open flux tubes in the potential magnetic field extrapolations. The open flux tubes are rooted in small parts of the parent active region, covering a heliocentric angle of a few degrees in the photosphere. But they expand rapidly above the neighbouring closed magnetic structures and cover several tens of degrees in longitude on the source surface. Some of these open field lines are found to connect the parent active region to the footpoint of the nominal Parker spiral on the source surface, within the uncertainty of about ±10• inherent to the evaluation of its connection longitude. This is so even when the parent active region is as far as 50• away. In two cases where the coronal flux tubes point to high heliolatitudes, the detection of Langmuir waves at the Wind spacecraft in the ecliptic plane suggests that the interplanetary field lines curve down to the ecliptic before reaching 1 AU. We conclude that non-radial open flux tubes in the corona can transport particles over several tens of degrees in longitude even in simple impulsive particle events. In all events we studied, potential magnetic field models give an adequate description of these structures.

[1] On the night of 15/16 November 2007, cameras in southern France detected 30 transient luminous events (TLEs) over a storm located in the Corsican region (France). Among these TLEs, 19 were sprites, 6 were halos, and 5 were elves. For 26 of them, a positive "parent" cloud-to-ground lightning (P+CG) flash was identified. The peak current of the P+CG flashes for the sprites had an average value of 63 kA and had a maximum value of 125 kA. The flashes for the halos and the elves had average values of 272 and 351 kA, respectively, and they had maximum values of 312 and 384 kA, respectively. No TLEs were detected after negative CG flashes with very large peak currents. Among the 26 P+CG flashes, 23 were located in a stratiform region with reflectivity values lower than 45 dBZ. The CG flashes in this region were classified into two groups according to the time interval separating them from the following flash: one group with values less than 2 s and one with values greater than 2 s. About 79% of all CGs were produced in a sequence of at least two flashes less than 2 s apart. For 65.5% of the sequences, the first flash was positive with an average peak current of 73 kA, while the later +CG flashes in a sequence had much lower peak currents. Several triangulated sprites were found to be shifted from their P+CG flashes by about 10 to 50 km and preferentially downstream. The observations suggest that the P+CG flashes can initiate both sprites and other CG flashes in a storm.

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Abstract. On 1 April 2004 the GUVI imager onboard the TIMED spacecraft spots an isolated and elongated polar cap arc. About 20 min later, the Cluster satellites detect an isolated upflowing ion beam above the polar cap. Cluster observations show that the ions are accelerated upward by a quasistationary electric field. The field-aligned potential drop is estimated to about 700 V and the upflowing ions are accompanied by a tenuous population of isotropic protons with a temperature of about 500 eV.The magnetic footpoints of the ion outflows observed by Cluster are situated in the prolongation of the polar cap arc observed by TIMED GUVI. The upflowing ion beam and the polar cap arc may be different signatures of the same phenomenon, as suggested by a recent statistical study of polar cap ion beams using Cluster data.We use Cluster observations at high altitude as input to a quasi-stationary magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) coupling model. Using a Knight-type current-voltage relationship and the current continuity at the topside ionosphere, the model computes the energy spectrum of precipitating electrons at the top of the ionosphere corresponding to the generator electric field observed by Cluster. The MI coupling model provides a field-aligned potential drop in agreement with Cluster observations of upflowing ions and a spatial scale of the polar cap arc consistent with the optical observations by TIMED. The computed energy spectrum of the precipitating electrons is used as input to the Trans4 ionospheric transport code. This 1-D model, based on Boltzmann's kinetic formalism, takes into account ionospheric processes such as photoionization and electron/proton precipitation, and computes the optical and UV emissions due to precipitating electrons. The emission rates provided by the Trans4 code are compared to the optical observations by TIMED. They are similar in size and intensity. Data and modelling results are consistent with the scenario of quasi-static acceleration of electrons that generate a polar cap arc as they precipitate in the ionosphere. The detailed observations of the acceleration region by Cluster and the large scale image of the polar cap arc provided by TIMED are two different features of the same phenomenon. Combined together, they bring new light on the configuration of the high-latitude magnetosphere during prolonged periods of Northward IMF. Possible implications of the modelling results for optical observations of polar cap arcs are also discussed.

[1] In the present work, we study the relations between the position of the plasmapause and the position of the radiation belt boundaries. The Cluster mission offers the exceptional opportunity to analyze those different regions of the inner magnetosphere with identical sensors on multiple spacecraft. We compare the positions of the radiation belt edges deduced from CIS (Cluster Ion Spectrometry) observations (electrons with energy > 2 MeV) with the positions of the plasmapause derived from WHISPER (Waves of HIgh frequency and Sounder for Probing of the Electron density by Relaxation) data (electron plasma frequency). In addition, we compare those results with the edges positions determined from RAPID (Research with Adaptive Particle Imaging Detectors) observations (electrons with energy between 244.1 and 406.5 keV). The period of 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2009 has been chosen for the analysis because at that time Cluster's perigee was located at lower radial distances than during the earlier part of the mission. The perigee was then as close as 2 R E , deep inside the plasmasphere and the radiation belts. This time period corresponds to a long solar activity minimum. Differences are observed between the radiation belt boundary positions obtained from the two different instruments: The radiation belt positions are related to the energy bands. The results show that the plasmapause position is more variable than the radiation belt boundary positions, especially during small geomagnetic activity enhancements. A correspondence is observed between the plasmapause position determined by WHISPER and the outer edge of the outer radiation belt of energetic electrons (> 2 MeV) observed by CIS. This result is unexpected since previous studies based on other spacecraft observations indicated a correlation between the inner edge of the outer belt and the plasmapause. However, during higher geomagnetic activity time periods, the plasmapause is located closer to the inner boundary of the outer radiation belt. Also, the thickness of the slot region is found to follow the global evolution of the geomagnetic activity.