Remote Sensing Radial Profiles of Magnetospheric Convection using the Motion of Patchy Pulsating Aurora

Abstract:

In a series of statistical and event studies we have demonstrated that the motion of patches in regions of Patchy Pulsating Aurora (PPA) is very close to if not exactly EXB convection. Thus, 2D maps of PPA motion provides us the opportunity to remote sense magnetospheric convection with relatively high space and time resolution, subject of course to uncertainties associated with mapping between the ionosphere and magnetosphere. In this paper we intercompare equatorial convection observations from NASA’s RBSP mission with PPA patch motion to demonstrate the efficacy of using patch motion to remote sense magnetospheric convection. As well, we discuss radial profiles of convection inferred from the PPA velocity maps and their implication for MHD-scale instabilities in the inner Central Plasma Sheet.