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Nonlinear vortex structures with diverging electric fields and their relation to the black aurora
Author(s) -
Johnson Jay R.,
Chang Tom
Publication year - 1995
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 - 10.1029/95gl01419
Subject(s) - electric field , vortex , physics , nonlinear system , magnetic field , plasma , perpendicular , geophysics , field (mathematics) , space (punctuation) , satellite , computational physics , mechanics , geometry , quantum mechanics , astronomy , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , pure mathematics
Large, radially divergent electric fields have been observed by the FREJA satellite and have been associated with black auroral curls. We interpret these structures as two‐dimensional solitary nonlinear plasma waves. In accordance with observation, we suggest that these are slowly propagating vortex structures traveling along elongated density depletions perpendicular to the magnetic field. We demonstrate that these structures are localized in space (the order of 1 km) and can have large, outwardly directed radial electric fields (the order of 1 V/m)—characteristics consistent with FREJA observations.