Midday Pc 1-2 pulsations observed at a subcleft location

Abstract

A class of unstructured Pc 1-2 pulsation activity, as identified on Bar I (70.2 N) records taken during 1968-1972, is found to be present in midday hours on about half of the days in summer months. The events have some tendency to occur in the later part of the ring current recovery phase, especially at times of moderate AE when the cleft lines are just poleward of Bar I. The source lines of the Pc 1-2 are found to lie essentially outside the plasmapause. In terms of the proton cyclotron resonance instability the most likely source regions of the Bar I Pc 1-2 are the detached plasma regions convecting sunward on the dayside and the portion of the cleft plasma on the last closed field lines.