SuperDARN observations of high-m ULF waves with curved phase fronts and their interpretation in terms of transverse resonator theory

Abstract

The Hankasalmi SuperDARN radar in Finland, while operating in a high spatial and temporal resolution mode, has measured the ionospheric signature of a naturally occurring ULF wave in scatter artificially induced by the Troms Heater. The wave had a period of 100 s and exhibited curved phase fronts across the heated volume (about 180 km along a single radar beam). Spatial information provided by the radar has enabled an m-number for the wave of about 38 to be determined. It is demonstrated here that the curved phase fronts are a generic feature of nonstationary poloidal waves in a transverse resonator, caused by the common action of the field line curvature, the plasma pressure, and the equilibrium current. Some features of the observed event agree with the resonator in the vicinity of the ring current, where it is proposed that the wave is excited by a moving source in the form of a proton cloud drifting in the magnetosphere in the azimuthal direction. © 2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.