A Global Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation Study of Ultra-low-frequency Wave Activity in the Inner Magnetosphere: Corotating Interaction Region + Alfvénic Fluctuations

Abstract

Abstract Using global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we investigate the role played by a complex solar structure composed of a corotating interaction region (CIR) followed by solar wind Alfvénic fluctuations on the magnetosphere’s nightside, equatorial electric field oscillations in the ultra-low-frequency range. A series of numerical experiments are performed employing synthetic solar wind inputs resembling those of a real CIR+Alfvénic fluctuation event that reached Earth’s magnetosphere on 2003 April 20. The following is found: (i) Radial electric field component fluctuations are excited via magnetopause boundary motions driven either by solar wind density variations characteristic of CIRs or by solar wind Alfvénic fluctuations with a given oscillation period. (ii) Azimuthal electric field component fluctuations nearer to Earth, that is, at radial distances R less than about 5R E ( Earth radius), are apparently not related to either of the two types of sinusoidal solar wind Alfvénic fluctuations used in this study featuring monochromatic frequencies of 0.833 mHz (20-minute period) and 1.666 mHz (10-minute period). Instead, these innermost azimuthal component fluctuations show enhanced activity when inner magnetosphere convection increases as a result of a southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field component B z . (iii) Lastly, outermost (R ≳ 7 R E) azimuthal electric field oscillations weakly respond to monochromatic solar wind Alfvénic fluctuations by showing power spectral density peaks at both driving frequencies, but only near the flanks of the magnetopause, thus suggesting that such oscillations are being excited also owing to magnetopause boundary motions driven by solar wind Alfvénic fluctuations.