Small-scale field-aligned currents and ionospheric disturbances induced by vertical acoustic resonance during the 2015 eruption of Chile's Calbuco volcano

Abstract:

Wave packet structure of small-scale magnetic fluctuations were observed by SWARM satellites just above the volcano and it's magnetic conjugate point after the eruption of Chile's Calbuco volcano on April 22, 2015. These magnetic fluctuations in low and middle latitudes generated by small-scale field aligned currents (FACs), and have about 10-30 seconds period along the satellites' orbit [Nakanishi et al., 2014] and about 200 (340) seconds temporal scale for meridional (longitudinal) magnetic components [Iyemori et al., 2015]. We also observed ionospheric disturbances and ground geomagnetic fluctuations just after the eruption. The 4-min period oscillations of total electron content (TEC) were observed by GPS receivers near the volcano. The 260 and 215 seconds spectral peaks in D component of ground based geomagnetic observation were found. Such oscillations and spectral peaks didn't exist before the eruption. All of these observations may have the same origin, i.e., vertical acoustic resonance between the ionosphere and the ground. In this presentation, we estimate the propagation velocity of the TEC oscillations and the spatial scale of the disturbance region in the E-layer where the FACs are generated by the ionospheric dynamo.