No abstract

The Geotail spacecraft carries a high-resolution Magnetic Field Experiment to provide magnetic field data in the frequency range below 50 Hz. This experiment includes dual fluxgate magnetometers and a search coil magnetometer. Fluxgate sensors are mounted at distances of 4 m and 6 m from the spacecraft on a deployable mast to reduce spacecraft-generated noises. Both outboard and inboard fluxgate magnetometers have 7 automatically switchable ranges from ±16 nT to ±65536 nT (full scale) and resolutions equivalent to a 15-bit A/D conversion in each range. The basic sampling rate for the A/D conversion is 128 Hz for both magnetometers. Sampled signals are averaged to 16 vectors/s for the outboard magnetometer and 4 vectors/s for the inboard magnetometer for telemetry. Time-derivatives of magnetic field in the frequency range of 1-50 Hz (128 vector-samples/s) are acquired by the three-component search coil magnetometer (located on another mast), separated by 4 m from the spacecraft. Fluxgate data are continuously obtained at the same rate for both real-time and recorded modes of operation, while search coil data are only acquired in the real-time telemetry operation.The instruments were operated after the time of mast deployment on September 4, 1992, and are presently working in all modes as designed. The details of this experiment and initial observations are presented.

We have investigated statistical characteristics of the nighttime medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) observed in 630‐nm airglow images at two stations, Rikubetsu (43.5°N, 34.8°MLAT) and Shigaraki (34.9°N, 25.4°MLAT), in Japan for 1998–2000 near the solar maximum period. Most of the observed MSTIDs propagate southwestward in the images. The typical wavelength, velocity, period, and amplitude are 100–300 km, 50–100 m/s, 0.5–1.5 h, and 5–15%, respectively. Seasonal variations in these parameters are not clear. The occurrence rate has a major peak (50–60%) in summer that appears ∼2 months earlier at lower latitudes and a minor peak in winter. Similar occurrence characteristics are obtained from midlatitude spread‐F signatures using multipoint ionosonde data in Japan, though the coincidence of the spread‐F and the MSTIDs in airglow images is only 10–15%.

[1] We show evidence that left-hand polarised electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) plasma waves can cause the loss of relativistic electrons into the atmosphere. Our unique set of ground and satellite observations shows coincident precipitation of ions with energies of tens of keV and of relativistic electrons into an isolated proton aurora. The coincident precipitation was produced by wave-particle interactions with EMIC waves near the plasmapause. The estimation of pitch angle diffusion coefficients supports that the observed EMIC waves caused coincident precipitation of both ions and relativistic electrons. This study clarifies that ions with energies of tens of keV affect the evolution of relativistic electrons in the radiation belts via cyclotron resonance with EMIC waves, an effect that was first theoretically predicted in the early 1970 0 s. Citation: Miyoshi,

We report for the first time simultaneous observations of medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) at geomagnetic conjugate points in both hemispheres, using two all‐sky airglow imagers at midlatitudes. A 630‐nm all‐sky CCD imager at Sata, Japan, detected MSTIDs with a wavefront elongated from NW to SE on the night of August 9, 2002. During this event, MSTIDs with a wavefront elongated from SW to NE were observed at the geomagnetic conjugate point, Darwin, Australia. To investigate geomagnetic conjugacy of the MSTID structures, the Darwin images were mapped The MSTID structures mapped from Darwin to its magnetic conjugate points along the geomagnetic field lines (B) coincide closely with those in the Sata images. This result suggests that polarization electric field (Ep) plays an important role in the generation of MSTIDs. Ep maps along B and moves the F region plasma upward or downward by E × B drifts, causing plasma density perturbations with structures mirrored in the northern and southern hemispheres.