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Shields et al. 2003
Shields, D.W., Bering, E.A., Alaniz, A., Mason, S.E.M., Guo, W., Arnoldy, R.L., Engebretson, M.J., Hughes, W.J., Murr, D.L., Lanzerotti, L.J. and Maclennan, C.G. (2003). Multistation studies of the simultaneous occurrence rate of Pc 3 micropulsations and magnetic impulsive events. Journal of Geophysical Research 108: doi: 10.1029/2002JA009397. issn: 0148-0227.

This study reports simultaneous observations of two different phenomena whose sources may be either near the magnetopause or in the solar wind: Pc 3 micropulsations and high-latitude magnetic impulsive events (MIEs), whose best studied subset comprises traveling current vortices (TCVs). Isolated Pc 3 emissions that occurred simultaneously with MIE or TCV events and appeared to have the same horizontal speed as the TCVs have been reported. This observation suggests that these events were on the same geomagnetic field lines and may share a common source. The current study reports a search of existing databases for simultaneous Pc 3-MIE observations. The databases that were searched are the South Pole search coil magnetometer data during 1985--1986 and the Magnetometer Array for Cusp and Cleft Studies (MACCS) database from 1992 to 1993. The rate of occurrence of joint Pc 3 bursts and high-latitude impulsive events has been consistently found to be ~70--90%, depending on the database. The rate of coincidence is so high that it suggests that search algorithms based on ground-based data that seek clean MIE signals may be omitting some events owing to the presence of large-amplitude ULF emissions. A reverse search for candidate MIEs occurring during dayside Pc 3 bursts doubled the number of candidate MIEs in the database. The final results show that 91% of all MIEs were accompanied by Pc 3 emissions, and 43% of all 10--30 min bursts or banded enhancements in Pc 3 emission were accompanied by an MIE. A statistical analysis confirms that the correlation rates are statistically significant. The observed dependence of the properties of the MIE-concurrent Pc 3s on the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field is consistent with previous studies of Pc 3s of solar wind origin.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers, Magnetospheric Physics, Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions, Magnetospheric Physics, MHD waves and instabilities, Space Plasma Physics, Magnetic reconnection, Space Plasma Physics, Wave/wave interactions
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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