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Zhang et al. 2005
Zhang, Y., Meng, C.-I., Paxton, L.J., Morrison, D., Wolven, B., Kil, H., Newell, P., Wing, S. and Christensen, A.B. (2005). Far-ultraviolet signature of polar cusp during southward IMF Bz observed by TIMED/Global Ultraviolet Imager and DMSP. Journal of Geophysical Research 110: doi: 10.1029/2004JA010707. issn: 0148-0227.

The coincident TIMED/Global Ultraviolet Imager (TIMED/GUVI) optical and DMSP particle observations have revealed new features of the optical signature of the polar cusp under a southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We have found that cusp auroras usually take the shape of a thin arc with a width around 100--200 km. This provides the first far-ultraviolet evidence of the narrow cusp under a southward IMF <Newell and Meng, 1987>. The cusp auroras could extend down to 0800 magnetic local time (MLT) in the morningside and 1400 MLT in the duskside. Its length is about a few thousand kilometers. A large solar wind density, speed, and IMF are necessary conditions for GUVI to observe the cusp aurora. We found that the cusp location at 1200 MLT changes linearly (-10 nT Bz < 0 nT) and nonlinearly (Bz < -10 nT) with the IMF Bz. The nonlinear effect can be explained by an L-3 dependence of the Earth's equatorial magnetic field.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetopause and boundary layers, Magnetospheric Physics, Auroral phenomena, Magnetospheric Physics, Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions, cusp aurora
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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