Coordinated observation of field line resonance in the mid-tail

Yunlin Jacques Zheng (1) , A. T. Y. Lui (1) , I. R. Mann (2) , K. Takahashi (1) , J. Watermann (3) , S.-H. Chen (4) , I. J. Rae (2) , T. Mukai (5) , C. T. Russell (6) , A. Balogh (7) , R. F. Pfaff (8) , H. Rème (9)

1 APL - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory [Laurel, MD]
2 Space Physics Group
3 DMI - Danish Meteorological Institute
4 USRA - Universities Space Research Association [Washington]
5 ISAS - Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
6 IGPP - Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics [Los Angeles]
7 Imperial College London
8 GSFC Laboratory for Solar and Space Physics
9 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements

Standing Alfvén waves of 1.1 mHz (~15 min in period) were observed by the Cluster satellites in the mid-tail during 06:00-07:00 UT on 8 August 2003. Pulsations with the same frequency were also observed at several ground stations near Cluster's footpoint. The standing wave properties were determined from the electric and magnetic field measurements of Cluster. Data from the ground magnetometers indicated a latitudinal amplitude and phase structure consistent with the driven field line resonance (FLR) at 1.1 mHz. Simultaneously, quasi-periodic oscillations at different frequencies were observed in the post-midnight/early morning sector by GOES 12 (l₀˜8.7), Polar (l₀˜11-14) and Geotail (l₀˜9.8). The 8 August 2003 event yields rare and interesting datasets. It provides, for the first time, coordinated in situ and ground-based observations of a very low frequency FLR in the mid-tail on stretched field lines.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Sciences de la Terre

Yunlin Jacques Zheng, A. T. Y. Lui, I. R. Mann, K. Takahashi, J. Watermann, et al.. Coordinated observation of field line resonance in the mid-tail. Annales Geophysicae, 2006, 24 (2), pp.707-723. ⟨hal-00330048⟩