Multi-platform observations documenting the plasma properties on a
magnetic field line supporting an Alfven wave
Platforms and instruments
- DE -1
- Akebono
- Ion energy, angle, and mass composition
- DC and AC magnetic field measurements
- DC and Low Frequency ( ~ion gyrofrequency) electric field measurements
- CANOPUS/NORSTAR
- Ground based magnetometer data from a station close to the
nearly common magnetic footprint of DE -1 and Akebono.
A magnetic signature was observed at the equatorward edge
of the polar cusp by DE -1 and Akebono ~20:00 UT on January 28, 1990.
The two satellites were in near magnetic
conjunction at this time.
The plasma and wave data obtained on the two satellites
and the absence of a signature of a major magnetic disturbance by
the CANOPUS magnetometer are more consistent with the interpretation
of the structure as that of a standing Alfven wave than that
of a quasi-steady field-aligned current sheet.
Reference:
-
Peterson, W. K., T. Abe, M. Andre, M. J. Engebretson, H. Fukunishi, H.
Hayakawa, A. Matsuoka, T. Mukai, A. M. Persoon, J. M. Retterer, R. M.
Robinson, J. A. Slavin, K. Tsuruda, D. D. Wallis, and A. W. Yau, Observations
of a transverse magnetic field perturbation at two altitudes on the
equatorward edge of the magnetospheric cusp, J. Geophys. Res. 98, 21463,
1993.
Last updated October, 1995 by W.K. Peterson
