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Multiscale temporal variations of pulsating auroras: On‐off pulsation and a few Hz modulation
Author(s) -
Nishiyama Takanori,
Sakanoi Takeshi,
Miyoshi Yoshizumi,
Hampton Donald L.,
Katoh Yuto,
Kataoka Ryuho,
Okano Shoichi
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2014ja019818
Subject(s) - physics , modulation (music) , intensity (physics) , amplitude , range (aeronautics) , frequency modulation , whistler , computational physics , electron , optics , radio frequency , acoustics , materials science , telecommunications , quantum mechanics , computer science , composite material
A statistical study on the cross‐scale property on the temporal variations of pulsating aurora intensity was conducted on 53 events observed at the Poker Flat Research Range during the period from 1 December 2011 to 1 March 2012. The observed modulation frequency ranged from 1.5 to 3.3 Hz, and strong modulations were not seen in the frequency range higher than about 3 Hz. This suggests that the time of flight of electrons has a time‐smoothing effect on the more rapid variations above 3 Hz. Furthermore, the frequency of modulation showed relatively strong correlation to auroral intensity (correlation coefficient of 0.58), and it can be explained with nonlinear wave growth theory, in which the modulation frequency increases with the wave amplitude of the whistler mode chorus. In contrast, the on‐off pulsations showed no significant correlations with auroral intensity. This result probably implies that several different plasma processes with different time scales from nonlinear wave growth should be taken into account when determining the on‐off periods. In particular, we suggest that long‐term variations in the cold plasma density play a dominant role in controlling the conditions of wave‐particle interactions that have temporal scale of the on‐off pulsation periods.