Identification

Title

Solar wind driving of magnetospheric ULF waves: Pulsations driven by velocity shear at the magnetopause

Abstract

We present results from global, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the solar wind/magnetosphere interaction. These MHD simulations are used to study ultra low frequency (ULF) pulsations in the Earth's magnetosphere driven by shear instabilities at the flanks of the magnetopause. We drive the simulations with idealized, constant solar wind input parameters, ensuring that any discrete ULF pulsations generated in the simulation magnetosphere are not due to fluctuations in the solar wind. The simulations presented in this study are driven by purely southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions, changing only the solar wind driving velocity while holding all of the other solar wind input parameters constant. We find surface waves near the dawn and dusk flank magnetopause and show that these waves are generated by the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability. We also find that two KH modes are generated near the magnetopause boundary. One mode, the magnetopause KH mode, propagates tailward along the magnetopause boundary. The other mode, the inner KH mode, propagates tailward along the inner edge of the boundary layer (IEBL). We find large vortical structures associated with the inner KH mode that are centered on the IEBL. The phase velocities, wavelengths, and frequencies of the two KH modes are computed. The KH waves are found to be fairly monochromatic with well-defined wavelengths. In addition, the inner and magnetopause KH modes are coupled and lead to a coupled oscillation of the low-latitude boundary layer. The boundary layer thickness, d, is computed and we find maximum wave growth for kd = 0.5-1.0, where k is the wave number, consistent with the linear theory of the KH instability. We comment briefly on the effectiveness of these KH waves in the energization and transport of radiation belt electrons.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d70k28sc

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

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keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

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South bounding latitude

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End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-05-29T00:00:00Z

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Conformity

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Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

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