The statistical difference between bending arcs and regular polar arcs
2015 (English)In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics, ISSN 2169-9380, E-ISSN 2169-9402, Vol. 120, no 12, 10443-10465 p.Article in journal (Refereed) PublishedText
In this work, the Polar UVI data set by Kullen et al. (2002) of 74 polar arcs is reinvestigated, focusing on bending arcs. Bending arcs are typically faint and form (depending on interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) B-y direction) on the dawnside or duskside oval with the tip of the arc splitting off the dayside oval. The tip subsequently moves into the polar cap in the antisunward direction, while the arc's nightside end remains attached to the oval, eventually becoming hook-shaped. Our investigation shows that bending arcs appear on the opposite oval side from and farther sunward than most regular polar arcs. They form during B-y-dominated IMF conditions: typically, the IMF clock angle increases from 60 to 90 degrees about 20min before the arc forms. Antisunward plasma flows from the oval into the polar cap just poleward of bending arcs are seen in Super Dual Auroral Radar Network data, indicating dayside reconnection. For regular polar arcs, recently reported characteristics are confirmed in contrast to bending arcs. This includes plasma flows along the nightside oval that originate close to the initial arc location and a significant delay in the correlation between IMF B-y and initial arc location. In our data set, the highest correlations are found with IMF B-y appearing at least 1-2 h before arc formation. In summary, bending arcs are distinctly different from regular arcs and cannot be explained by existing polar arc models. Instead, these results are consistent with the formation mechanism described in Carter et al. (2015), suggesting that bending arcs are caused by dayside reconnection.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2015. Vol. 120, no 12, 10443-10465 p.
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
IdentifiersURN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-183227DOI: 10.1002/2015JA021298ISI: 000369180200022ScopusID: 2-s2.0-84957848598OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-183227DiVA: diva2:908838
FunderSwedish National Space Board
QC 201603032016-03-032016-03-032016-03-03Bibliographically approved