GPS scintillations associated with cusp dynamics and polar cap patches

This paper investigates the relative scintillation level associated with cusp dynamics (including precipitation, flow shears, etc.) with and without the formation of polar cap patches around the cusp inflow region by the EISCAT Svalbard radar (ESR) and two GPS scintillation receivers. A series of polar cap patches were observed by the ESR between 8:40 and 10:20 UT on December 3, 2011. The polar cap patches combined with the auroral dynamics were associated with a significantly higher GPS phase scintillation level (up to 0.6 rad) than those observed for the other two alternatives, i.e., cusp dynamics without polar cap patches, and polar cap patches without cusp aurora. The cusp auroral dynamics without plasma patches were indeed related to GPS phase scintillations at a moderate level (up to 0.3 rad). The polar cap patches away from the active cusp were associated with sporadic and moderate GPS phase scintillations (up to 0.2 rad). The main conclusion is that the worst global navigation satellite system space weather events on the dayside occur when polar cap patches enter the polar cap and are subject to particle precipitation and flow shears, which is analogous to the nightside when polar cap patches exit the polar cap and enter the auroral oval

On the collocation of the cusp aurora and the GPS phase scintillation: A statistical study

The climatology map of the GPS phase scintillation identifies two regions of high scintillation occurrences: around magnetic noon and around magnetic midnight. The scintillation occurrence rate is higher around noon, while the scintillation level is stronger around magnetic midnight. This paper focuses on the dayside scintillation region. In order to resolve the role of the cusp auroral processes in the production of irregularities, we put the GPS phase scintillation in the context of the observed auroral morphology. Results show that the occurrence rate of the GPS phase scintillation is highest inside the auroral cusp, regardless of the scintillation strength and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). On average, the scintillation occurrence rate in the cusp region is about 5 times as high as in the region immediately poleward of it. The scintillation occurrence rate is higher when the IMF Bz is negative. When partitioning the scintillation data by the IMF By, the distribution of the scintillation occurrence rate around magnetic noon is similar to that of the poleward moving auroral form (PMAF): there is a higher occurrence rate at earlier (later) magnetic local time when the IMF By is positive (negative). This indicates that the irregularities which give rise to scintillations follow the IMF By-controlled east-west motion of the aurora and plasma. Furthermore, the scintillation occurrence rate is higher when IMF By is positive when the cusp is shifted toward the post noon sector where it may get easier access to the higher density plasma. This suggests that the combined auroral activities (e.g., PMAF) and the density of the intake solar EUV ionized plasma are crucial for the production of scintillations. © 2015. American Geophysical Union

GPS scintillation effects associated with polar cap patches and substorm auroral activity: direct comparison

We directly compare the relative GPS scintillation levels associated with regions of enhanced plasma irregularities called auroral arcs, polar cap patches, and auroral blobs that frequently occur in the polar ionosphere. On January 13, 2013 from Ny-Ålesund, several polar cap patches were observed to exit the polar cap into the auroral oval, and were then termed auroral blobs. This gave us an unprecedented opportunity to compare the relative scintillation levels associated with these three phenomena. The blobs were associated with the strongest phase scintillation (σϕ), followed by patches and arcs, with σϕ up to 0.6, 0.5, and 0.1 rad, respectively. Our observations indicate that most patches in the nightside polar cap have produced significant scintillations, but not all of them. Since the blobs are formed after patches merged into auroral regions, in space weather predictions of GPS scintillations, it will be important to enable predictions of patches exiting the polar cap

Solar cycle and seasonal variations of the GPS phase scintillation at high latitudes

We present the long-term statistics of the GPS phase scintillation in the polar region (70°–82° magnetic latitude) by using the GPS scintillation data from Ny-Ålesund for the period 2010–2017. Ny-Ålesund is ideally located to observe GPS scintillations modulated by the ionosphere cusp dynamics. The results show clear solar cycle and seasonal variations, with the GPS scintillation occurrence rate being much higher during solar maximum than during solar minimum. The seasonal variations show that scintillation occurrence rate is low during summer and high during winter. The highest scintillation occurrence rate is around magnetic noon except for December 2014 (solar maximum) when the nightside scintillation occurrence rate exceeds the dayside one. In summer, the dayside scintillation region is weak and there is a lack of scintillations in the nightside polar cap. The most intriguing features of the seasonal variations are local minima in the scintillation occurrence rate around winter solstices. They correspond to local minima in the F2 peak electron density. The dayside scintillation region migrates equatorward from summer to winter and retreats poleward from winter to summer repetitively in a magnetic latitude range of 74°–80°. This latitudinal movement is likely due to the motion of the cusp location due to the tilt of the Earth’s magnetic field and the impact of the sunlight

Statistical study of the GNSS phase scintillation associated with two types of auroral blobs

This study surveys space weather effects on GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) signals in the nighttime auroral and polar cap ionosphere using scintillation receivers, all-sky imagers, and the European Incoherent Scatter Svalbard radar. We differentiate between two types of auroral blobs: blob type 1 (BT 1) which is formed when islands of high-density F region plasma (polar cap patches) enter the nightside auroral oval, and blob type 2 (BT 2) which are generated locally in the auroral oval by intense particle precipitation. For BT 1 blobs we have studied 41.4 h of data between November 2010 and February 2014. We find that BT 1 blobs have significantly higher scintillation levels than their corresponding polar cap patch; however, there is no clear relationship between the scintillation levels of the preexisting polar cap patch and the resulting BT 1 blob. For BT 2 blobs we find that they are associated with much weaker scintillations than BT 1 blobs, based on 20 h of data. Compared to patches and BT 2 blobs, the significantly higher scintillation level for BT 1 blobs implies that auroral dynamics plays an important role in structuring of BT 1 blobs. © 2016. American Geophysical Union

GPS scintillations associated with cusp dynamics and polar cap patches

This paper investigates the relative scintillation level associated with cusp dynamics (including precipitation, flow shears, etc.) with and without the formation of polar cap patches around the cusp inflow region by the EISCAT Svalbard radar (ESR) and two GPS scintillation receivers. A series of polar cap patches were observed by the ESR between 8:40 and 10:20 UT on December 3, 2011. The polar cap patches combined with the auroral dynamics were associated with a significantly higher GPS phase scintillation level (up to 0.6 rad) than those observed for the other two alternatives, i.e., cusp dynamics without polar cap patches, and polar cap patches without cusp aurora. The cusp auroral dynamics without plasma patches were indeed related to GPS phase scintillations at a moderate level (up to 0.3 rad). The polar cap patches away from the active cusp were associated with sporadic and moderate GPS phase scintillations (up to 0.2 rad). The main conclusion is that the worst global navigation satellite system space weather events on the dayside occur when polar cap patches enter the polar cap and are subject to particle precipitation and flow shears, which is analogous to the nightside when polar cap patches exit the polar cap and enter the auroral oval

TRICE 2 Observations of Low-Energy Magnetospheric Ions Within the Cusp

On December 08, 2018 the Twin Rocket Investigation of Cusp Electrodynamics 2 (TRICE 2) mission was successfully launched. The mission consisted of two sounding rockets, each carrying a payload capable of measuring electron and ion distributions, electric and magnetic fields, and plasma waves occurring in the northern magnetospheric cusp. This study highlights the ion and wave observations obtained by TRICE 2 in the cusp and observations from the magnetospheric multiscale (MMS) spacecraft at the low-latitude magnetopause two hours prior to the TRICE 2 traversal of the cusp. Within the cusp, typical ion cusp features were observed, that is, energy-latitude dispersion of injected magnetosheath plasma. However, a lower energy population was also measured near the equatorward edge of the cusp on open field lines. Pitch-angle distributions of the low-energy ions suggest that this population was magnetospheric in origin, and not from ionospheric upflows. Data from MMS show that counterstreaming ions were present in the outer magnetosphere and low-latitude boundary layer at similar energies to those observed by TRICE 2 in the cusp. Correlations between the low-energy ions within the cusp and broadband extremely low frequency waves suggest that the low-energy magnetospheric ions that filled the flux tube may have undergone wave-particle interactions. These interactions may cause pitch-angle scattering of low-energy magnetospheric ions closer to the loss cone, thereby allowing them to precipitate into the cusp and be measured by the TRICE 2 sounding rockets

Simultaneous observations of traveling convection vortices: Ionosphere-thermosphere coupling

We present simultaneous observations of magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling over Svalbard during a traveling convection vortex (TCV) event. Various spaceborne and ground-based instruments made coordinated measurements, including magnetometers, particle detectors, an all-sky camera, European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) Svalbard Radar, Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), and SCANning Doppler Imager (SCANDI). The instruments recorded TCVs associated with a sudden change in solar wind dynamic pressure. The data display typical features of TCVs including vortical ionospheric convection patterns seen by the ground magnetometers and SuperDARN radars and auroral precipitation near the cusp observed by the all-sky camera. Simultaneously, electron and ion temperature enhancements with corresponding density increase from soft precipitation are also observed by the EISCAT Svalbard Radar. The ground magnetometers also detected electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves at the approximate time of the TCV arrival. This implies that they were generated by a temperature anisotropy resulting from a compression on the dayside magnetosphere. SCANDI data show a divergence in thermospheric winds during the TCVs, presumably due to thermospheric heating associated with the current closure linked to a field-aligned current system generated by the TCVs. We conclude that solar wind pressure impulse-related transient phenomena can affect even the upper atmospheric dynamics via current systems established by a magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling process