Correspondence of Pi2 Pulsations, Aurora Luminosity, and Plasma Flux Fluctuation Near a Substorm Brightening Aurora: Arase Observations

Abstract

Although many substorm‐related observations have been made, we still have limited insight into propagation of the plasma and field perturbations in Pi2 frequencies (∼7–25 mHz) in association with substorm aurora, particularly from the auroral source region in the inner magnetosphere to the ground. In this study, we present conjugate observations of a substorm brightening aurora using an all‐sky camera and an inner‐magnetospheric satellite Arase at L ∼ 5. A camera at Gakona (62.39°N, 214.78°E), Alaska, observed a substorm auroral brightening on 28 December 2018, and the footprint of the satellite was located just equatorward of the aurora. Around the timing of the auroral brightening, the satellite observed a series of quasi‐periodic variations in the electric and magnetic fields and in the energy flux of electrons and ions. We demonstrate that the diamagnetic variations of thermal pressure and medium‐energy ion energy flux in the inner magnetosphere show approximately one‐to‐one correspondence with the oscillations in luminosity of the substorm brightening aurora and high‐latitudinal Pi2 pulsations on the ground. We also found their anti‐correlation with low‐energy electrons. Cavity‐type Pi2 pulsations were observed at mid‐ and low‐latitudinal stations. Based on these observations, we suggest that a wave phenomenon in the substorm auroral source region, like ballooning type instability, play an important role in the development of substorm and related auroral brightening and high‐latitude Pi2, and that the variation of the auroral luminosity was directly driven by keV electrons which were modulated by Alfven waves in the inner magnetosphere.