Field Aligned Currents and Aurora During the Terrestrial Alfven Wing State

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorBurkholder, Brandon
dc.contributor.authorChen, Li-Jen
dc.contributor.authorSorathia, Kareem
dc.contributor.authorLin, Dong
dc.contributor.authorVines, Sarah
dc.contributor.authorBowers, Charles F.
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-01T14:55:33Z
dc.date.available2025-04-01T14:55:33Z
dc.date.issued2025-03-11
dc.description.abstractWhen sub-Alfv´enic (Alfv´en Mach number MA < 1) plasmas impact Earth, the magnetosphere develops Alfv´en wings. A Multiscale Atmosphere Geospace Environment (MAGE) global simulation of the April 2023 geomagnetic storm, validated against Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE), reveals the mechanism of field-aligned current (FAC) generation and auroral precipitation for the terrestrial Alfv´en wings. Simulation and observations show northern hemisphere planetward flowing auroral electrons (negative FAC) are predominantly at magnetic local times (MLTs) 8-12. Just before the wings formed, solar wind conditions were similar and MA ∼ 1.4, yet the same FAC system extended from 9-18 MLT. Flow vorticity drives FACs at the boundary of the Alfv´en wings and unshocked solar wind. The Alfv´en wing shape presents a different obstacle to the solar wind compared to typical lobe fluxes, producing the unique FAC and auroral patterns. New insights about Alfv´en wing FACs will help to understand auroral features for exoplanets inside their host star’s Alfv´en zone
dc.description.sponsorshipWe acknowledge high-performance computing support from the Derecho system (doi:10.5065/qx9apg09) provided by the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), sponsored by the National Science Foundation. We acknowledge use of NASA/GSFC’s Space Physics Data Facility’s OMNIWeb (https://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/). We thank the team of the Center for Geospace Storms for providing the MAGE model. We thank the AMPERE team and the AMPERE Science Data Center for providing data products derived from the Iridium Communications constellation, enabled by support from the National Science Foundation. Funding for this work is provided by the Partnership for Heliospheric and Space Environment Research (PHaSER) and MMS Early Career Grant 80NSSC25K7352. Work at DIAS was supported by Taighde Eireann - Research Ireland Laureate Consol- ´ idator award SOLMEX (CFB).
dc.description.urihttp://arxiv.org/abs/2502.16309
dc.format.extent14 pages
dc.genrejournal articles
dc.genrepostprints
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2alig-dyhb
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.16309
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/37906
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute (GPHI)
dc.rightsThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
dc.rightsPublic Domain
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
dc.subjectPhysics - Space Physics
dc.titleField Aligned Currents and Aurora During the Terrestrial Alfven Wing State
dc.typeText
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8702-5806

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
2502.16309v3.pdf
Size:
1.42 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

UMBC Faculty Collection
UMBC Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute (GPHI)