Accession Number:

ADA230493

Title:

Wave Particle Interactions in the Inner Magnetosphere

Descriptive Note:

Final rept. 27 Feb 1987-30 Jun 1990

Corporate Author:

BOSTON UNIV MA CENTER FOR SPACE PHYSICS

Personal Author(s):

• Hughes, W. J.

Report Date:

1990-08-01

Pagination or Media Count:

22.0

Abstract:

This contract funded a three year study of wave particle interactions and substorm dynamics in the inner magnetosphere. We completed the first ground satellite study of ion cyclotron waves generated near the plasmapause. We published several examples of waves observed simultaneously near the equator at L4 by the DE 1 spacecraft on the ground. In three cases correlation analysis yielded estimates of wave group delay between the equatorial source region and the ground. Model calculations that used measured plasma parameters agreed with observational estimates. Among substorm related work, we extended an earlier study of pi2 signatures to lower latitudes to show that substorm onset signatures broaden in longitudinal extent with decreasing latitude. We showed that a pi2-based substorm detector would be a more reliable tool than one based on the AL index, and we developed and tested a simple pi2 index. The results showed that a more sophisticated pi2 index would result in fewer false detections. We also formulated and began testing a new hypothesis on the triggering of substorms.

Descriptors:

• *CYCLOTRON WAVES
• IONS
• SOURCES
• COMPUTATIONS
• DETECTION
• MODELS
• INTERACTIONS
• TOOLS
• DYNAMICS
• PARAMETERS
• PLASMAS(PHYSICS)
• RELIABILITY
• CORRELATION
• INTERNAL
• ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES
• STORMS
• DELAY
• HYPOTHESES
• WAVES
• MAGNETOSPHERE
• PARTICLE COLLISIONS
• LATITUDE
• GROUND LEVEL
• EQUATORIAL REGIONS

Subject Categories:

• Atmospheric Physics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE