Theory of ultra-low-frequency magnetic pulsations in the earth's magnetosphere

Technical Report · Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6136784· OSTI ID:6136784

Chen, Liu

Long-period (T = 10-600 s) geomagnetic pulsations are known to be associated with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) perturbations in the Earth's magnetosphere. Broadly speaking, there are two categories of excitation mechanisms. The first category corresponds to impulsive/external excitations, where MHD waves exhibit the stable discrete as well as continuous spectra. The second category corresponds to spontaneous/internal excitations, where MHD instabilities are excited either reactively or via wave-particle interactions. In this tutorial lecture, we briefly review theories concerning both categories of excitation mechanisms and compare theoretical predictions with available satellite observations. 20 refs.

• Research Organization: Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 6136784
• Report Number(s): PPPL-2742; ON: DE91011104; TRN: 91-012106
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
PULSATIONS
BALLOONING INSTABILITY
EXCITATION
GEOMAGNETIC FIELD
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INSTABILITY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MECHANICS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
640201* - Atmospheric Physics- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena