• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.spc1
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• pp.101-107
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• 2003

The magnetosphere is often perturbed by impulsive input such as interplanetary shocks and solar wind discontinuities. We study how these initial perturbations are propagating within the magnetosphere over various latitude regions by adopting a three-dimensional numerical dipole model. We examine the wave propagation on a meridional plane in a time-dependent manner and compare the numerical results with multi-satellite and ground observations. The dipole model is used to represent the plasmasphere and magnetosphere with a realistic Alfven speed profile. It is found that the effects of refraction, which result from magnetic field curvature and inhomogeneous Alfven speed, are' found to become important near the plasmapause. Our results show that, when the disturbances are assumed at the subsolar point of the dayside magnetosphere, the travel time becomes smaller to the polar ionosphere compared to the equatorial ionosphere.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.75-88
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• 2002

The climatological characteristics of the polar ionosphere is examined in terms of the ionospheric conductance and electric field. For this purpose, 109 days of measurements from the Sondrestrom incoherent scatter radar are utilized. By combining these two quantities, it is possible to deduce the overhead ionospheric current distributions. The ionospheric current density thus obtained is compared with the corresponding ground magnetic disturbance. Also examined is the effect of the field-aligned current on the ground magnetic disturbance, particularly on the D component Several interesting climatological characteristics about the ionosphere over the Sonderstrom are apparent from this study. (1) The conductance distribution is mainly due to solar EUV radiation during day-time On the other hand, the conductance distribution during the night-time is very low. (2) The conductance distribution one. the polar cap region during the day-time is controlled mostly by the solar EUV radiation, while it is extremely low during night-time wish the Hall and Pedersen conductances being 1.6 and 1.2 siemen, respectively (3) The region of the maximum N-S electric field tend to locate in the dayside sector. The E-W component of the electric field is stronger than that over Chatanika (4) The E-W auroal inospheric current (J/sub E/) is more important in the sunlit hemisphere than the night hemisphere. And a strong southward current is noted in the prenoon sector (5) There is a significant correlation between the overhead ionospheric current and the simultaneously observed ground magnetic disturbance. However, the assumption for the infinite sheet current approximation is far from realistic, underestimating the current density. And the correlation between ${\Delta}H$ and J/sub E/ is higher than the one between ${\Delta}D$ and J/sub N/ , indicating that field-aligned current affects significantly ${\Delta}D$.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.29 no.3
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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.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.8-8
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• 1993

Field-aligned(Birkeland) currents of the High-latitude polar region are to the linkage between the solar wind-magnetosphere system and the ionosphere. The characteristics of field-aligned currents at an attitude of 1300 km have been investigated from the KiSat-A satellite magnetometer data recorded at SatRec form March to May 1993. It is found that the po1arity of both east-west and south-north magnetic components becomes reversed and distorted across the poleward edge. We suggest that these changes May occur rule to the Region 1 and Region 2 currents. It is also suggested that the current time resolution which is about 30 seconds, should be improved to prove gradual polarity changes in the polar region. In addition, it is shown how the observational results depend on the longitude in the high-latitude region.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.23.4-23.4
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• 2008

In March and April 2001, the apogee (~9 Re) of the Polar spacecraft was located near the subsolar magnetopause with its orbital plane nearly parallel to a magnetic meridian plane. Polar electric and magnetic field data acquired during the two-month interval of solar maximum have been used to study fundamental standing Alfven waves near the subsolar meridian plane (magnetic local time = 1000-1400 hours) at magnetic latitudes from the equator to $\pm45$ degrees and at L values between 7 and 12. In the frequency band from 1.5 to 10 mHz, fundamental mode oscillations were identified based on high coherence (more than 0.7) and an approximately 90-degree phase shift between the azimuthal magnetic and radial electric field components. The L dependence of the fundamental frequencies is studied, and the frequencies are compared with those observed near the solar minimum interval (Takahashi et al. 2001). We found that the average frequencies in solar maximum are lower than those in solar minimum by a factor of ~2. This implies that the mass density in solar maximum is higher than that in solar minimum by a factor of ~4. Since there is a positive correlation between solar irradiance and solar activity, we suggest that the ionosphere in solar maximum produces more ions and load magnetic flux tubes with more ions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.25.1-25.1
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• 2008

The Weddell Sea Anomaly (WSA) in the ionosphere is characterized by higher plasma density at night than during the day in the region near the Weddell Sea. According to previous studies on the WSA, it is known to occur mostly in southern summer and has not been reported in other seasons. We have utilized more than 13-year TOPEX TEC measurements in order to study how the WSA varies with seasons and how it changes with solar activity. The TOPEX TEC data have been extensively utilized for the climatological study of the ionosphere due to its excellent spatial and temporal coverage. We investigate the seasonal and solar activity variations of the WSA using four seasonal cases (Mar. equinox, Jun. solstice, Sep, equinox, and Dec. solstice) and two solar activity conditions (F10.7<120 for solar minimum and F10.7>120 for solar maximum conditions) for geomagnetically quiet periods. Our analysis shows that the WSA occurs only in the southern summer hemisphere for low F10.7, as in previous studies, but the WSA occurs all of seasons except for winter when F10.7 is high: it is most prominent during the December solstice (southern summer) and still strong during both equinoxes. The WSA appears to be an extreme case of global longitudinal variations at mid- and high-latitudes.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.199-216
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• 2021

In 2020, the solar and space environment division at the Korea Space Science Society surveyed the status of data archives in solar physics, magnetosphere, and ionosphere/upper atmosphere in Korea to promote broader utilization of the data and research collaboration. The survey includes ground- and satellite-based instruments and developing models by research institutes and universities in Korea. Based on the survey results, this study reports the status of the ground-based instruments, data products in the ionosphere and upper atmosphere, and documentation of them. The ground-based instruments operated by the Korea Polar Research Institute and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute include ionosonde, Fabry-Perot interferometer in Arctic Dasan stations, Antarctic King Sejong/Jang Bogo stations, and an all-sky camera, VHF radar in Korea. We also provide information on total electron content and scintillation observations derived from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) station networks in Korea. All data are available via the webpage, FTP, or by request. Information on ionospheric data and models is available at http://ksss.or.kr. We hope that this report will increase data accessibility and encourage the research community to engage in the establishment of a new Space Science Data Ecosystem, which supports archiving, searching, analyzing, and sharing the data with diverse communities, including educators, industries, and the public as wells as the research scientist.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.104-120
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• 2022

The Small Scale magNetospheric and Ionospheric Plasma Experiment (SNIPE)'s scientific goal is to observe spatial and temporal variations of the micro-scale plasma structures on the topside ionosphere. The four 6U CubeSats (~10 kg) will be launched into a polar orbit at ~500 km. The distances of each satellite will be controlled from 10 km to more than ~1,000 km by the formation flying algorithm. The SNIPE mission is equipped with identical scientific instruments, Solid-State Telescopes(SST), Magnetometers(Mag), and Langmuir Probes(LP). All the payloads have a high temporal resolution (sampling rates of about 10 Hz). Iridium communication modules provide an opportunity to upload emergency commands to change operational modes when geomagnetic storms occur. SNIPE's observations of the dimensions, occurrence rates, amplitudes, and spatiotemporal evolution of polar cap patches, field-aligned currents (FAC), radiation belt microbursts, and equatorial and mid-latitude plasma blobs and bubbles will determine their significance to the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction and quantify their impact on space weather. The formation flying CubeSat constellation, the SNIPE mission, will be launched by Soyuz-2 at Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2023.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.141-150
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• 2002

The ionosphere plays an important role in the electrodynamics of space environment. In particular, the information on the ionospheric conductivity distribution is indispensable in understanding the electrodynamics of the magnetosphere and ionosphere coupling study. To meet such a requirement, several attempts have been made to estimate the conductivity distribution over the polar ionosphere. As one of such attempts we compare the ionospheric plasma convection patterns obtained from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), from which the electric field distribution is estimated, and the simultaneously measured ground magnetic disturbance. Specifically, the electric field measured from the Goose Bay and Stokkseyri radars and magnetic disturbance data obtained from the west coast chain of Greenland are compared. In order to estimate ionospheric conductivity distribution with these information, the overhead infinite sheet current approximation is employed. As expected, the Hall conductance, height-integrated conductivity, shows a wide enhancement along the center of the auroral electrojet. However, Pedersen conductance shows negative values over a wide portion of the auroral oval region, a physically unacceptable situation. To alleviate this problem, the effect of the field-aligned current is taken into account. As a result, the region with negative Pedersen conductance disappears significantly, suggesting that the effect of the field-aligned current should be taken into account, when one wants to estimate ionospheric conductance based on ground magnetic disturbance and electric field measurements by radars.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.27 no.3
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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.