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Spatial structure and temporal evolution of a dayside poloidal ULF wave event
Author(s) -
Liu W.,
Sarris T. E.,
Li X.,
Zong Q.G.,
Ergun R.,
Angelopoulos V.,
Glassmeier K. H.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl049476
Subject(s) - event (particle physics) , geophysics , geology , physics , geodesy , astrophysics
We investigate a strong poloidal ultralow frequency wave event in the noon sector observed by THEMIS and LANL satellites on 29 May 2007. From 07:00 to 10:00 UT, the five THEMIS satellites that were lined up in similar outbound orbits consecutively observed narrow‐band poloidal pulsations from 10 to 4 mHz. The wave activity covered a broad region from 09:00 to 13:30 LT azimuthally and 5 to 9.5 R E radially. The radial extent and power of the wave decreased with time from 07:00 to 08:30 UT, suggesting a decay process with a time scale of hours. In the region outside the plasmapause, the wave power was observed to decrease then increase from 08:00 to 09:00 UT with a rapid temporal variation. The decrease in wave power, which suggests fast decay (within one hour), might be related to the evolution of the plasmasphere. The subsequent increase could possibly be related to a regeneration process by a surface wave at the plasmapause. We suggest that a coupling between the surface wave and the resonance of the field line around the plasmapause takes place when the density inside the plasmapause is twice the density outside the plasmapause.