Multiscale temporal variations of pulsating auroras: On‐off pulsation and a few Hz modulation

  • Takanori Nishiyama
    National Institute of Polar Research Tachikawa Japan
  • Takeshi Sakanoi
    Planetary Plasma and Atmospheric Research Center Graduate School of Science Tohoku University Sendai Japan
  • Yoshizumi Miyoshi
    Solar‐Terrestrial Environment Laboratory Nagoya University Nagoya Japan
  • Donald L. Hampton
    Geophysical Institute University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska USA
  • Yuto Katoh
    Department of Geophysics Graduate School of Science Tohoku University Sendai Japan
  • Ryuho Kataoka
    National Institute of Polar Research Tachikawa Japan
  • Shoichi Okano
    Institute for Astronomy University of Hawaii Pukalani Hawaii USA

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<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>A statistical study on the cross‐scale property on the temporal variations of pulsating aurora intensity was conducted on 53 events observed at the Poker Flat Research Range during the period from 1 December 2011 to 1 March 2012. The observed modulation frequency ranged from 1.5 to 3.3 Hz, and strong modulations were not seen in the frequency range higher than about 3 Hz. This suggests that the time of flight of electrons has a time‐smoothing effect on the more rapid variations above 3 Hz. Furthermore, the frequency of modulation showed relatively strong correlation to auroral intensity (correlation coefficient of 0.58), and it can be explained with nonlinear wave growth theory, in which the modulation frequency increases with the wave amplitude of the whistler mode chorus. In contrast, the on‐off pulsations showed no significant correlations with auroral intensity. This result probably implies that several different plasma processes with different time scales from nonlinear wave growth should be taken into account when determining the on‐off periods. In particular, we suggest that long‐term variations in the cold plasma density play a dominant role in controlling the conditions of wave‐particle interactions that have temporal scale of the on‐off pulsation periods.</jats:p>

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