Multiradar observations of substorm‐driven ULF waves. Issue 6 (11th June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: James, M. K.; Yeoman, T. K.; Mager, P. N.; Klimushkin, D. Yu.
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 121:Issue 6(2016:Jun.)
• Page Start: 5213
• Page End: 5232
• Publication Date: 2016-06-11
• Subjects: ULF waves -- substorm injection -- SuperDARN; Magnetospheric physics -- Periodicals; Space environment -- Periodicals; Cosmic physics -- Periodicals; Planets -- Atmospheres -- Periodicals; Heliosphere (Astrophysics) -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 523.01
• DOI: 10.1002/2015JA022102
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-9380

Abstract

Abstract: A recent statistical study of ULF waves driven by substorm‐injected particles observed using Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) found that the phase characteristics of these waves varied depending on where the wave was observed relative to the substorm. Typically, positive azimuthal wave numbers, m, were observed in waves generated to the east of the substorms and negative m to the west. The magnitude of m typically increased with the azimuthal separation between the wave observation and the substorm location. The energies estimated for the driving particles for these 83 wave events were found to be highest when the waves were observed closer to the substorm and lowest farther away. Each of the 83 events studied by James et al. (2013) involved just a single wave observation per substorm. Here a study of three individual substorm events are presented, with associated observations of multiple ULF waves using various different SuperDARN radars. We demonstrate that a single substorm is capable of driving a number of wave events characterized by different azimuthal scale lengths and wave periods, associated with different energies, W, in the driving particle population. We find that similar trends in m and W exist for multiple wave events with a single substorm as was seen in the single wave events of James et al. (2013). The variety of wave periods present on similar L shells in this study may also be evidence for the detection of both poloidal Alfvén and drift compressional mode waves driven by substorm‐injected particles. Key Points: Multiple ULF waves observed driven by individual substorms Wave characteristics in each event reflect those of a larger population of substorm‐driven ULF waves Substorms inject particles with a range of energies which drive waves with different characteristics