- Article
- Open access
- Published:
Interaction of Alfven waves with a turbulent layer
Earth, Planets and Space volume 60, pages 949–960 (2008)
Abstract
We consider the interaction of Alfven waves with a resistive turbulent layer with anomalous conductivity. High-frequency turbulence causes the occurrence of both field-aligned and transverse resistivity. The correct dispersion relationship for Alfven waves in a turbulent medium with anisotropic conductivities has been derived. Alfven waves may partially reflect from a resistive layer, be absorbed in it, or be transmitted through it. When field-aligned resistivity dominates, the relative effectiveness of these processes critically depends on the wave transverse scale. For a thin layer as compared with the wave field-aligned length, the characteristic parameter that controls the effectiveness of the wave interaction with a layer is the resistive Alfven scale λA, determined by the field-aligned resistance and Alfven velocity above the layer. Comparison of energy losses estimated from analytical relationships for a “thin” layer and from numerical calculations for a finite width layer shows that the thin layer approximation provides a reasonable estimate over a wide range of wave scales, not only very small. Estimation of the effective damping scale of the Pc1 waves in a turbulent cusp shows that the cusp proper cannot be a conduit of Pc1 wave energy from the magnetosheath to the ground. The “thin” layer model has been applied to the interpretation of the results of early studies of transient ULF wave (Pi2 pulsations) damping during substorm onset, which showed that the damping rate increased for accompanying magnetic bays stronger than ∼100 nT. Our estimates confirm that this additional damping can be caused by the occurrence of anomalous transverse resistance when magnetospheric current exceeds the threshold necessary for the excitation of highfrequency plasma turbulence.
References
Barsukov, V. M. and M. I. Pudovkin, Field-aligned conductivity and pulsation parameters, Geomagn. Aeronomy, 10, 569–570, 1970.
Dyrud, L. P., M. J. Engebretson, J. L. Posch, W. J. Hughes, H. Fukunishi, R. L. Arnoldy, P. T. Newell, and R. B. Horne, Ground observations and possible source regions of two types of Pc1–2 micropulsations at very high latitudes, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 27011–27028, 1997.
Engebretson, M. J., T. G. Onsager, D. E. Rowland, R. E. Denton, J. L. Posch, C. T. Russell, P. J. Chi, R. L. Arnoldy, B. J. Anderson, and H. Fukunishi, On the source of Pc1–2 waves in the plasma mantle, J. Geophys. Res., 110, A06201, doi:10.1029/2004JA010515, 2005.
Erlandson, R. E., L. J. Zanetti, and T. A. Potemra, Observations of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves and hot plasma in the polar cusp, Geophys. Res. Lett., 15, 421–424, 1988.
Fedorov, E., V. Pilipenko, and M. J. Engebretson, ULF wave damping in the auroral acceleration region, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 6203–6212, 2001.
Fedorov, E., V. Pilipenko, and V. V. Vovchenko, Interaction of Alfven waves with a resistive layer, Geomagn. Aeronomy, 47, 606–615, 2007.
Fejer, B. G. and M. C. Kelley, Ionospheric irregularities, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 18, 401, 1980.
Fredricks, R. W., F. L. Scarf, and C. T. Russell, Field-aligned currents, plasma waves, and anomalous resistivity in the disturbed polar cusp, J. Geophys. Res., 78, 2133–2141, 1973.
Galeev, A. A. and R. Z. Sagdeev, Nonlinear plasma theory, in Reviews of Plasma Physics, edited by M. A. Leontovich, N7, 3–145, 1973.
Gudkova, V. A., L. M. Zeleny, and V. A. Liperovsky, About dynamics of field-aligned currents in the magnetosphere, Geomagn. Aeronomy, 13, 318–324, 1973.
Gudkova, V. A., V. M. Barsukov, L. M. Zeleny, A. V. Volosevich, G. A. Loginov, and V. A. Liperovsky, Turbulence in the magnetospheric plasma and damping of Pi2 variations, Geomagn. Aeronomy, 14, 764–766, 1974.
Hudson, M. K., R. L. Lysak, and F. S. Moser, Magnetic field-aligned potential drops due to electrostatic ion-cyclotron turbulence, Geophys. Res. Lett., 5, 143–146, 1978.
Ionson, J. A., Anomalous resistivity from electrostatic ion cyclotron turbulence, Phys. Lett., 58A, 105–107, 1976.
Keiling, A., J. R. Wygant, C. Cattell, W. Peria, G. Parks, M. Temerin, F. S. Mozer, C. T. Russell, and C. A. Kletzing, Correlation of Alfven wave Poynting flux in the plasma sheet at 4–7RE with ionospheric electron energy flux, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 1132, doi:10.1029/2001JA900140, 2002.
Kindel, J. M. and C. F. Kennel, Topside current instabilities, J. Geophys. Res., 76, 3055–3078, 1971.
Le, G., X. Blanco-Cano, C. T. Russell, X.-W. Zhou, F. Mozer, K. J. Trattner, S. A. Fuselier, and B. J. Anderson, Electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves in the high altitude cusp: Polar observations, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 19067–19080, 2001.
Liperovsky, V. A. and S. A. Martjanov, About damping of hydromagnetic waves in a turbulent plasma, Geomagn. Aeronomy, 13, 311–317, 1973.
Liperovsky, V. A. and M. I. Pudovkin, Anomalous resistivity and double layers in magnetospheric plasma, Moscow, Nauka, p. 181, 1983 (in Russian).
Lotko, W., B. U. Ö. Sonnerup, and R. L. Lysak, Nonsteady boundary layer flow including ionospheric drag and parallel electric fields, J. Geophys. Res., 92, 8635, 1987.
Lyons, L. R., Generation of large-scale regions of auroral currents, electric potentials, and precipitation by the divergence of the convection electric field, J. Geophys. Res., 85, 17–24, 1980.
Lysak, L. R. and C. W. Carlson, Effect of microscopic turbulence on magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, Geophys. Res. Lett., 8, 269–272, 1981.
Lysak, R. L. and C. T. Dum, Dynamics of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling including turbulent transport, J. Geophys. Res., 88, 365–380, 1983.
Lysak, R. L. and A. Yoshikawa, Resonant cavities and waveguides in the ionosphere and atmosphere, in Magnetospheric ULF Waves: Synthesis and New Directions, Geophys. Monogr. Ser., edited by K. Takahashi, P. J. Chi, R. E. Denton, and R. L. Lysak, 169, 289–306, AGU, Washington, D.C., 2006.
Maltsev, Yu. P., Boundary conditions for Alfven waves on the ionosphere, Geomagn. Aeronomy, 17, 1008–1011, 1977.
Mazur, N., E. Fedorov, V. Pilipenko, and A. Leonovich, Interaction of Alfven front with the plasma anomalous resistance layer, J. Plasma Phys., 73, 241–256, 2007.
Pilipenko, V., S. Shalimov, E. Fedorov, M. Engebretson, and W. Hughes, Coupling between field-aligned current impulses and Pi1 noise bursts, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 17419–17430, 1999.
Pokhotelov, O. A., V. Khruschev, M. Parrot, S. Senchenkov, and V. P. Pavlenko, Ionospheric Alfven resonator revisited: Feedback instability, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 25813–25824, 2001.
Rankin, R., J. C. Samson, and V. T. Tikhonchuk, Discrete auroral arcs and nonlinear dispersive field line resonances, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 663–666, 1999.
Senatorov, V. A., Solution of the wave Alfven equation with account for finite conductivity and viscosity, Geomagn. Aeronomy, 36, 164–165, 1996.
Shalimov, S. L. and V. A. Liperovsky, About saturation of turbulent energy density in field-aligned currents, Space Res., 26, 247–255, 1988.
Scholer, M., On the motion of artificial ion clouds in the magnetosphere, Planet. Space Sci., 18, 977, 1970.
Streltsov, A. V. and W. Lotko, Reflection and absorption of Alfvenic power in the low-altitude magnetosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 8016, doi:10.1029/2002JA009425, 2003.
Swift, D. W., Mechanism for auroral precipitation: A review, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 19, 185–212, 1981.
Tikhonchuk, V. T. and V. Y. Bychenkov, Effect of anomalous resistivity on MHD wave damping, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 9535–9538, 1995.
Trakhtengertz, V. Yu. and A. Ya. Feldstein, About dissipation of Alfven waves in the layer with anomalous resistance, Geomagn. Aeronomy, 25, 334–336, 1985.
Vogt, J., Alfven wave coupling in the auroral current circuit, Surv. Geophys., 23, 335–377, 2002.
Vogt, J. and G. Haerendel, Reflection and transmission of Alfven waves at the auroral acceleration region, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 277, 1998.
Yagova, N., V. Pilipenko, E. Fedorov, M. Vellante, and K. Yumoto, Influence of ionospheric conductivity on mid-latitude Pc3-4 pulsations, Earth Planets Space, 51, 129–138, 1999.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Pilipenko, V., Fedorov, E. & Engebretson, M.J. Interaction of Alfven waves with a turbulent layer. Earth Planet Sp 60, 949–960 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352850
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352850