• 제목/요약/키워드: polar cap

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Estimation of Polar Cap Potential and the Role of PC Index

  • Moon, Ga-Hee
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • 제29권3호
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    • pp.259-267
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    • 2012
  • Polar cap potential has long been considered as an indicator for the amount of energy flowing in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. Thus, the estimation of polar cap potential is important to understand the physical process of the magnetosphere. To estimate the polar cap potential in the Northern Hemisphere, merging electric field by Kan & Lee (1979) is adopted. Relationships between the PC index and calculated merging electric field ($E^*$) are examined during full-time and storm-time periods separately. For this purpose Dst, AL, and PC indices and solar wind data are utilized during the period from 1996-2003. From this linear relationship, polar cap potential (${\Phi}^*$) is estimated using the formula by Doyle & Burke (1983). The values are represented as $58.1{\pm}26.9$ kV for the full-time period and $123.7{\pm}84.1$ kV for a storm-time period separately. Considering that the average value of polar cap potential of Doyle & Burke (1983) is about 47 kV during moderately quiet intervals with the S3-2 measurements, these results are similar to such. The monthly averaged variation of Dst, AL, and PC indices are then compared. The Dst and AL indices show distinct characteristics with peaks during equinoctial season whereas the average PC index according to the month shows higher values in autumn than in spring. The monthly variations of the linear correlation coefficients between solar wind parameters and geomagnetic indices are also examined. The PC-AL linear correlation coefficient is highest, being 0.82 with peaks during the equinoctial season. As with the AL index, the PC index may also prove useful for predicting the intensity of an auroral substorm. Generally, the linear correlation coefficients are shown low in summer due to conductance differences and other factors. To assess the role of the PC index during the recovery phase of a storm, the relation between the cumulative PC index and the duration is examined. Although the correlation coefficient lowers with the storm size, it is clear that the average correlation coefficient is high. There is a tendency that duration of the recovery phase is longer as the PC index increases.

Observations for the Ionosphere Using European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) in the Dayside Polar Cap/Cusp and Auroral Region

  • Geonhwa Jee;Eun-Young Ji;Eunsol Kim;Young-Sil Kwak;Changsup Lee;Hyuck-Jin Kwon;Ji-Eun Kim;Young-Bae Ham;Ji-Hee Lee;Jeong-Han Kim;Tae-Yong Yang;Hosik Kam
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • 제40권1호
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    • pp.1-10
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    • 2023
  • Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) and Korea Astronomy and Space Institute (KASI) have been participating in the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) Scientific Association as an affiliate institution in order to observe the polar ionosphere since 2015. During the period of December 16-21, 2016 and January 3-9, 2018, the observations for the polar ionospheric parameters such as the electron density profiles, ion drift, and electron/ion temperature are carried out in the polar cap/cusp region by the EISCAT Svalbard radar (ESR). The purpose of the observations is to investigate the characteristic of the winter ionosphere in the dayside polar cap/cusp region. In this paper, we briefly report the results of the ESR observations for winter daytime ionosphere and also the simultaneous observations for the ionosphere-thermosphere system together with the balloon-borne instrument High-Altitude Interferometer WIND Experiment (HIWIND) performed by the High Altitude Observatory (HAO), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). We further introduce our research activities using long-term EISCAT observations for the occurrence of ion upflow and the climatology of the polar ionospheric density profiles in comparison with the mid-latitude ionosphere. Finally, our future research plans will briefly be introduced.

STUDIES OF THE MARTIAN NORTH POLAR CAP BEFORE VERNAL EQUINOX, 1975

  • IWASAKI KYOSUKE;AKABANE TOKUHIDE;TOMITA YOSHIO
    • 천문학회지
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    • 제29권spc1호
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    • pp.357-358
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    • 1996
  • Reanalysis of the observations of Mars made at the Hida Observatory in 1975 with a new image processing method is reported. Red filter images taken in the period before vernal equinox (areocentric longitude of the sun Ls=$0^{\circ}$) revealed dark surface features at the northern high latitudes, while blue filter images taken at the same time showed the extensive polar hood. The latitude of the northernmost feature observed was about $67^{\circ}$N. An extensive north polar cap, which is predicted by most of the existing models and observed with Viking, did not exist in our reanalyzed images obtained at the Hida Observatory in 1975.

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Pulsar Polar Cap and Slot Gap Models: Confronting Fermi Data

  • Harding, Alice K.
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • 제30권3호
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    • pp.145-152
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    • 2013
  • Rotation-powered pulsars are excellent laboratories for studying particle acceleration as well as fundamental physics of strong gravity, strong magnetic fields and relativity. Particle acceleration and high-energy emission from the polar caps is expected to occur in connection with electron-positron pair cascades. I will review acceleration and gamma-ray emission from the pulsar polar cap and associated slot gap. Predictions of these models can be tested with the data set on pulsars collected by the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Telescope over the last four years, using both detailed light curve fitting, population synthesis and phase-resolved spectroscopy.

THERMOSPHERIC NEUTRAL WINDS WITHIN THE POLAR CAP IN RELATION TO SOLAR ACTIVITY

  • Won, Young-In;Killeen, T.L.;Niciejewski, R.J.
    • International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Korean Journal of Geophysical Research
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    • 제23권1호
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    • pp.1-11
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    • 1995
  • Thermospheric neutral winds and temperatures have been collected from the ground-based Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) at Thule Air Base ($76.5^{\circ}N{\;}69.0^{\circ}W$), Greenland since 1985. The thermospheric observations are obtained by determining the Doppler characteristics f the [OI] 6300 ${\AA}$ emissions of atomic oxygen. The FPI operates routinely during the winter season, with a limitation in the observation by the existence of clouds. For this study, data acquired from 1985 to 1991 were analyzed. The neutral wind measurements from these long-term measurements are used to investigate the influence of solar cycle variation on the high-latitude thermospheric dynamics. These data provide experimental results of the geomagnetic polar cap are also compared with the predictions of two semiempirical models : the vector spherical harmonics (VSH) model of Killeen et al. (1987) and the horizontal wind model (HWM) of Hedin et al. (1991). The experimental results show a good positive correlation between solar activity and thermospheric wind speed over the geomagnetic polar cap. The calculated correlation coefficient indicates that an increase of 100 in F10.7 index corresponds to an increase in wind speed of about 100 m/s. The model predictions reveal similar trends of wind speed variation as a function of solar activity, with the VSH and HWM models tending to overestimate and underestimate the wind speed, respectively.

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Contributions of Heating and Forcing to the High-Latitude Lower Thermosphere: Dependence on the Interplanetary Magnetic Field

  • Kwak, Young-Sil;Richmond, Arthur;Ahn, Byung-Ho;Cho, Kyung-Suk
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • 제27권3호
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    • pp.205-212
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    • 2010
  • To better understand the physical processes that maintain the high-latitude lower thermospheric dynamics, we have identified relative contributions of the momentum forcing and the heating to the high-latitude lower thermospheric winds depending on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and altitude. For this study, we performed a term analysis of the potential vorticity equation for the high-latitude neutral wind field in the lower thermosphere during the southern summertime for different IMF conditions, with the aid of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere-Ionosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (NCAR-TIEGCM). Difference potential vorticity forcing and heating terms, obtained by subtracting values with zero IMF from those with non-zero IMF, are influenced by the IMF conditions. The difference forcing is more significant for strong IMF $B_y$ condition than for strong IMF $B_z$ condition. For negative or positive $B_y$ conditions, the difference forcings in the polar cap are larger by a factor of about 2 than those in the auroral region. The difference heating is the most significant for negative IMF $B_z$ condition, and the difference heatings in the auroral region are larger by a factor of about 1.5 than those in the polar cap region. The magnitudes of the difference forcing and heating decrease rapidly with descending altitudes. It is confirmed that the contribution of the forcing to the high-latitude lower thermospheric dynamics is stronger than the contribution of the heating to it. Especially, it is obvious that the contribution of the forcing to the dynamics is much larger in the polar cap region than in the auroral region and at higher altitude than at lower altitude. It is evident that when $B_z$ is negative condition the contribution of the forcing is the lowest and the contribution of the heating is the highest among the different IMF conditions.

Polar rain flux variations in northern hemisphere observed by STSAT_1 with IMF geometry

  • Hong, Jin-Hy;Lee, J.J.;Min, K.W.;Kim, K.H.
    • 한국우주과학회:학술대회논문집(한국우주과학회보)
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    • 한국우주과학회 2008년도 한국우주과학회보 제17권2호
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    • pp.25.2-25.2
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    • 2008
  • Polar rain is a spatially uniform precipitation of electrons with energies around 100eV that penetrate into the polar cap region where geomagnetic field lines are connected to the Interplanetary Magnetic Fields (IMF). Since their occurrences depend on the IMF sector polarity, they are believed to originate from the field aligned component of the solar wind. However, statistically direct correlation between polar rain and solar wind has not been shown. In this presentation, we examined specifically the IMF strength influence on the polar rain flux variation by classifying of IMF sector polarities. For this study, we employed the polar rain flux data measured by STSAT-1 and compared them with the solar wind parameters obtained from the WIND and ACE satellites. We found the direct mutuality between polar rain flux and IMF strength with correlation coefficient above 0.5. This proportional tendency appears stronger when the northern hemisphere is in the away sector of the IMF, which could be associated with a favorable geometry for magnetic reconnection. Simple particle trajectory simulation clearly shows why polar rain intensity depends on the IMF sector polarity. These results are consistent with the direct entry model of Fairfield et al.(1985), while low correlation coefficient with solar wind density, the similarity between slops of both energy spectra shows that transport process occur without acceleration.

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