Mapping the low-altitude cusp: intense small-scale field-aligned currents vs. energetic particle precipitation (original) (raw)

Abstract

We have studied more than 50 cases of cusp observations from low-altitude satellites during the February 16-22, 2002, SIRCUS campaign period. About half of them were inferred from DMSP F-13/14/15 particle spectrometer data and the other half from magnetic field measurements in the lower ELF range made onboard the CHAMP and Ørsted LEO satellites. The locations of the satellites during the detection of these signatures were converted into AACGM coordinates, and the geomagnetic latitude of these signatures set in relation to the statistical, IMF-Bz dependent particle cusp latitude derived by Newell et al. (1989). The particle cusp latitude which we inferred from DMSP data matches the statistically expected latitude while the small-scale magnetic field regime appears to cover the equatorward section of the cusp and the poleward section of the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL). We suggest that the perturbations resulting in small-scale magnetic field variations are generated in the LLBL...

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