Geomagnetic signatures of auroral substorms preceded by pseudobreakups

Abstract

The evolution of ten growth-phase pseudobreakups and subsequent substorms, identified in Northern Hemisphere Polar UV images during winter 1998-1999, are compared to the AE index, the unified PC indices, and GOES B field data. Comparing substorm onset (auroral breakup) with GOES data and AE and PC indices, it is found that an exact onset determination from these parameters is in most cases not possible. The three weakest substorms leave no clear signatures in the auxiliary parameters. For the other events, the AE increase appears with a time delay of 5 -15 min after onset. The PC indices increase, as expected, before the AE index. The time span between PC increase and onset varies widely (-26 to 5 min). A tail dipolarization is seen in GOES data with a time delay of 2-31 min after onset. The dipolarization delay at geosynchronous orbit appears because of the GOES displacement from the tail onset region. Using the mapped GOES distance from the auroral breakup region as an estimate of GOES displacement from the breakup source region, we find that the tail dipolarization region expands in average with an azimuthal speed of 0.22 MLT min-1 and an equatorward speed of 0.09° min. Pseudobreakups leave hardly any signature in AE or PC index data except in the four strongest substorm cases. In these cases, a bump appears in the PC indices during the pseudobreakup. A bump in geosynchronous B field data is found only in those two cases where GOES is located very close to the pseudobreakup tail source region. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.