Effects of ionospheric damping on MHD wave mode structure

Abstract

We calculate the mode structure of magnetospheric MHD waves on a meridional plane. We have added the effect of ionospheric dissipation to the three-dimensional dipole field MHD model of Lee and Lysak (1999); this model allows a realistic Alfven speed profile for the plasmasphere and realistic boundary conditions at the outer boundaries that vary with respect to local time. Using power spectra and plots of spatial mode structure, we show that the two-dimensional transverse modes on the dipolar meridian are strongly affected by ionospheric damping, but the compressional modes are not. The location of field line resonances spreads wide as the damping increases, but the compressional mode structure remains stable. Copyright © The Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS); The Seismological Society of Japan; The Volcanological Society of Japan; The Geodetic Society of Japan; The Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences.