2016/03/18 by Yasutaka Hiraki, Hiraki, Yasutaka
Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Cardiovascular and Diving-Related Complications #FOS: Physical sciences #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Space Physics (physics.space-ph) #physics.space-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1603.05907
5 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2016/03/18 · openalex publication_date 2016/03/18 · arxiv updated 2016/03/21 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
It has been known that discrete aurora suddenly intensifies and deforms from an arc-like to a variety of wavy/vortex structures, especially during a substorm period. The instability of Alfv\acute\rm en waves reflected from the ionosphere has been analyzed in order to comprehend the ignition process of auroral intensification. It was presented that the prime key is an enhancement of plasma convection, and the convection electric field has a threshold. This study examined effects of auroral electron precipitation, causing the ionization of neutral atmosphere, on the linear instability of Alfv\acute\rm en waves. It was found that the threshold of convection electric fields is significantly reduced by increasing the ionization rate, the realistic range of which could be estimated from observed electron energy spectra.