Time-dependent magnetospheric configuration and breakup mapping during a substorm

Saturn’s Magnetospheric Configuration

This Chapter summarizes our current understanding of Saturn’s magnetospheric configuration. Observations from the Cassini Prime and Equinox Missions have answered some questions and opened new ones. One of the fundamental questions of magnetospheric physics is what are the sources of the plasma that populate the magnetosphere. At Saturn, there is a rich set of possible plasma sources: the solar...

AKR breakup and auroral particle acceleration at substorm onset

[1] The dynamical behavior of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) is investigated in connection with auroral particle acceleration at substorm onsets using high-time-resolution wave spectrograms provided by Polar/PWI electric field observations. AKR develops explosively at altitudes above a preexisting low-altitude AKR source at substorm onsets. This ‘‘AKR breakup’’ suggests an abrupt formation ...

Relation of Substorm Breakup Arc to other Growth - Phase

Automated determination of auroral breakup during the substorm expansion phase using allsky imager data

This paper describes a novel method for quantitatively and routinely identifying auroral breakup following substorm onset using the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms all-sky imagers. Substorm onset is characterized by a brightening of the aurora that is followed by auroral poleward expansion and auroral breakup. This breakup can be identified by a sharp increas...

On the lifetime and extent of an auroral westward flow channel (AWFC) observed during a magnetospheric substorm

A −190-nT negative bay in the geomagnetic X component measured at Macquarie Island (−653) showed that an ionospheric substorm occurred during 09:58 to 11:10 UT on 27 February 2000. Signatures of an auroral westward flow channel (AWFC) were observed nearly simultaneously in the backscatter power, LOS Doppler velocity, and Doppler spectral width measured using the Tasman International Geospace En...