Properties of magnetohydrodynamic normal modes in the Earth’s magnetosphere
Abstract
The Earth's magnetosphere supports a variety of Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) normal modes with Ultra Low Frequencies (ULF) including standing Alfvén waves and cavity/waveguide modes. Their amplitudes and frequencies depend in part on the properties of the magnetosphere (size of cavity, wave speed distribution). In this work, we use ∼13 years of Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms satellite magnetic field observations, combined with linearized MHD numerical simulations, to examine the properties of MHD normal modes in the region L > 5 and for frequencies <80 mHz. We identify persistent normal mode structure in observed dawn sector power spectra with frequency-dependent wave power peaks like those obtained from simulation ensemble averages, where the simulations assume different radial Alfvén speed profiles and magnetopause locations. We further show with both observations and simulations how frequency-dependent wave power peaks at L > 5 depend on both the magnetopause location and the location of peaks in the radial Alfvén speed profile. Finally, we discuss how these results might be used to better model radiation belt electron dynamics related to ULF waves.
Citation
Hartinger , M , Elsden , T , Archer , M , Takahashi , K , Wright , A N , Artemyev , A , Zhang , X & Angelopoulos , V 2023 , ' Properties of magnetohydrodynamic normal modes in the Earth’s magnetosphere ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics , vol. 128 , no. 12 , e2023JA031987 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JA031987
Publication
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2169-9402Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: MDH was supported by NASA 80NSSC19K0127, 80NSSC19K0907, 80NSSC21K1683, 80NSSC21K1677, 80NSSC23K0903, and NSF AGS-2307204. KT was supported by NASA 80NSSC19K0259 and 80NSSC21K0453. MOA was supported by a UKRI (STFC / EPSRC) Stephen Hawking Fellowship EP/T01735X/1. The research of A.W. was funded in part by Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) grant ST/W001195/1 (UK). T.E. was funded in part by a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship ECF-2019-155 (UK). AA and XZ were supported by NASA 80NSSC21K0729 and 80NSSC23K0108. We acknowledge support from ISSI Bern through ISSI International Team projects 483 “The Identification And Classification Of 3D Alfven Resonances” and 546 “Magnetohydrodynamic Surface Waves at Earth’s Magnetosphere (and Beyond).” We acknowledge NASA contract NAS5-02099.Collections
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