In an attempt to place short-lived, high-speed magnetotail flows termed bursty bulk flow events (BBFs) in the context of substorm phenomenology we analyze one such event that took place on April 11, 1985, using data from several spacecraft and many ground stations. The substorm onset, which took place at 0127 UT, had a meridian 2 hours of local time east of AMPTE/IRM. The satellite did not detect high-speed flows at that time. A high-latitude (--•70 ø corrected geomagnetic) substorm intensification took place at 0202 UT centered --•0.5 hour of local time west of the AMPTE/IRM meridian. The ISEE 2 satellite at the magnetotail lobe and the LANL 019 satellite at geosynchronous altitude were both at the same meridian as AMPTE/IRM at the time. The 0202 UT substorm intensification was associated with (1) a dipolarization at the ISEE 2 satellite at 0200:30 UT, (2) a BBF onset at AMPTE/IRM at 0202 UT accompanied by an intense dipolarization consistent with current wedge formation, (3) an energetic particle injection at geosynchronous altitude that took place at 0204 UT. The plasma acceleration region associated with this substorm intensification was estimated to be --• 8 R E tailward of AMPTE/IRM. Thus, during this activity the BBF event was due to an observed tail collapse Earthward of X --• -26 RE. The Earthward energy transport measured at AMPTE/IRM can account for the expected magnetospheric power consumption if the BBF has a cross-sectional area of only 1-2 R2e in the Y-Z direction. Similarly, the Earthward magnetic flux transport rate measured at AMPTE/IRM during the BBF event can result in a potential drop comparable to the expected transpolar cap potential if the BBF event has a size of 1-2 R E in the Y direction. The large amounts of flux transport measured past the satellite necessitate the existence of lobe flux reconnection tailward of AMPTE/IRM. The above results assume the validity of the frozen-in condition over the --•10-min duration of the BBF event.Although activity continued in the ionosphere and the ring current for well over 1.5 hours after the 0202 UT substorm intensification, most of the earthward energy and magnetic flux transport past IRM had ceased --•10 min after the BBF onset. We propose that the fast flows transport and pile up magnetic flux through a very narrow (a few R E in Y extent) flow channel in the midtail to the edge of an expanding dipolarization front in the near-Earth region. After the plasma sheet dipolarizes at a given location enhanced flux transport ceases, resulting in an apparent short (10-min timescale) duration of the fast flows. Unlike the near-Earth plasma sheet, which dipolarizes across many hours of local time, the midtail plasma sheet may exhibit longitudinally localized dipolarization. This may explain the often observed lack of one-to-one correlation between midtail activity and substorms.

An oscillation with a period near 2 days is found in radar wind measurements made in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere at Christmas Island (2°N, 157° W) in the central Pacific. The oscillation is particularly strong in the meridional wind component, and seems to be present almost continuously ir the 80–100 km height region, although some intermittency is evident. Wave amplitudes are especially large about one month after the solstices, in July/August and in January/February, at times coincident with large 2‐day wave events in the summer mesosphere at extratropical latitudes. Power spectral and complex demodulation techniques are used to study the amplitude and frequency variations of the oscillation as a function of height and time. Downward phase propagation is found, consistent with upward energy propagation, and with a vertical wavelength of about 70 km. An unusual feature is a shift in wave period from near 50 hours in July/August to 48 hours in January/February, when the largest amplitudes (up to 45 m s−1 ) are observed. A 16‐hour oscillation is also found at times when the 2‐day wave amplitudes are largest. The observations are consistent with the 2‐day wave being a manifestation of the (3, 0) Rossby‐gravity normal mode. Another, weaker oscillation, is also found in the meridional wind field at a period near 44 hours. This oscillation may be due to the (2, 0) normal mode.

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[1] The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has initiated an experimental program, Spatial Ionospheric Correlation Experiment, utilizing state-of-the-art DSTO-designed high frequency digital receivers. This program seeks to understand ionospheric disturbances at scales < 150 km and temporal resolutions under 1 min through the simultaneous observation and recording of multiple quasi-vertical ionograms (QVI) with closely spaced ionospheric control points. A detailed description of and results from the first campaign conducted in February 2008 were presented by Harris et al. (2012). In this paper we employ a 3-D magnetoionic Hamiltonian ray tracing engine, developed by DSTO, to (1) model the various disturbance features observed on both the O and X polarization modes in our QVI data and (2) understand how they are produced. The ionospheric disturbances which produce the observed features were modeled by perturbing the ionosphere with atmospheric gravity waves.Citation: Cervera, M. A., and T. J. Harris (2014), Modeling ionospheric disturbance features in quasi-vertically incident ionograms using 3-D magnetoionic ray tracing and atmospheric gravity waves,

Abstract. This paper describes the latitudinal variation in F2 stratification [Balan and Bailey, 1995] as observed by a number of oblique and vertical ionosondes operating in Southeast Asia during 1997. Stratification of the F2 layer was seen at dip latitudes from 4øS to 18øS on the southern side of the magnetic equator but did not occur at the closest reflection point to the magnetic equator (dip latitude = 2.3øN). The observed transient cusp (vertical ionosonde) or additional nose (oblique ionosonde) was defined as an F3 layer or an F•.5 layer depending on whether it occurred above or below the layer which maintained continuity with the normal F2 layer peak. Within the zone of occurrence, the transient layer was commonly seen as an F3 layer at reflection points closest to the magnetic equator but invariably as an F•.5 layer at reflection points farther from the magnetic equator. These observations suggest that the distortion in the equatorial electron density profile associated with the phenomenon moved toward the base of the F2 layer as magnetic field lines descended with increasing latitude. Stratification of the F2 layer commenced at the same local time (e.g., 0845 LT in November 1997) throughout the longitudinal range of coverage and was associated with a rapid rise in F2 layer height following sunrise. The stratification ended at times varying from 1300 LT to sunset and was associated with a fall in the height of F2 peak electron density. The region of maximum F2 layer stratification lay between the magnetic equator and the peak of the southern equatorial anomaly.