A Possible Formation Scenario of the Transpolar Arcs with the Nightside
End Distortions: Role of Field-Aligned Currents
Abstract
Since we discovered the newly morphological transpolar arc (TPA), whose
nightside end got distorted toward pre- or post-midnight, identified as
“nightside distorted TPAs”, their fundamental characteristics have
been revealed based on investigations of the space-borne auroral imager
data and corresponding solar wind conditions. Nightside distorted TPAs
had two types; “J”- and “L”-shaped TPAs, and their locations of
appearance (dawn or duskside of the polar cap) were governed by the
polarity of the By component of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF).
Furthermore, we found that the nightside distorted TPAs have
antisymmetric morphologies in the Northern and Southern hemispheres,
also depending on the IMF-By orientation. In this presentation, we show
that that the electric currents flowing aligned to the magnetic field
lines which connect between the magnetotail and the ionosphere, that is,
Field-aligned currents (FACs) play an essential role in the formations
of the “J”- and “L”-shaped TPAs. They are induced by significant
plasma flow velocity difference (plasma flow shear) between the fast
plasma flows associated with nightside magnetic reconnection and slower
background plasma flows in the magnetotail. The current vortex
structures with the counterclockwise rotation are also clearly seen in
the ionospheric current vectors derived from fluctuations of the
geomagnetic field measured at the ground observatories beneath and in
close proximity of the growth regions of the nightside distorted TPA.
This result suggests that the FACs were flowing out of the ionosphere
toward the magnetotail (upward FACs) near the TPA. Furthermore, based on
the geomagnetic field variations and the SuperDARN HF radar data, we
obtained evidence in which the locations of magnetotail magnetic
reconnection, which persisted even during northward IMF-Bz intervals,
that is, the TPA durations, retreated further down tail as the TPA grew
to the dayside. Taking into account these observational results, we
finally show a model to illustrate the nightside distorted TPA
(particularly, “L”-shaped TPA) formation.