Plasmapause surface wave oscillates the magnetosphere and diffuse aurora

Fei He, Rui-Long Guo, William R. Dunn, Zhong-Hua Yao, Hua-Sen Zhang, Yi-Xin Hao, Quan-Qi Shi, Zhao-Jin Rong, Jiang Liu, An-Min Tian, Xiao-Xin Zhang (), Yong Wei (), Yong-Liang Zhang, Qiu-Gang Zong, Zu-Yin Pu and Wei-Xing Wan
Additional contact information
Fei He: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rui-Long Guo: Université de Liège
William R. Dunn: University College London
Zhong-Hua Yao: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hua-Sen Zhang: Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics
Yi-Xin Hao: Peking University
Quan-Qi Shi: Shandong University
Zhao-Jin Rong: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jiang Liu: University of California
An-Min Tian: Shandong University
Xiao-Xin Zhang: Key Laboratory of Space Weather, National Center for Space Weather, China Meteorological Administration
Yong Wei: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yong-Liang Zhang: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Qiu-Gang Zong: Peking University
Zu-Yin Pu: Peking University
Wei-Xing Wan: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Energy circulation in geospace lies at the heart of space weather research. In the inner magnetosphere, the steep plasmapause boundary separates the cold dense plasmasphere, which corotates with the planet, from the hot ring current/plasma sheet outside. Theoretical studies suggested that plasmapause surface waves related to the sharp inhomogeneity exist and act as a source of geomagnetic pulsations, but direct evidence of the waves and their role in magnetospheric dynamics have not yet been detected. Here, we show direct observations of a plasmapause surface wave and its impacts during a geomagnetic storm using multi-satellite and ground-based measurements. The wave oscillates the plasmapause in the afternoon-dusk sector, triggers sawtooth auroral displays, and drives outward-propagating ultra-low frequency waves. We also show that the surface-wave-driven sawtooth auroras occurred in more than 90% of geomagnetic storms during 2014–2018, indicating that they are a systematic and crucial process in driving space energy dissipation.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15506-3

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