Articles | Volume 27, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-3591-2009
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-3591-2009
28 Sep 2009
 | 28 Sep 2009

Cluster spacecraft observations of a ULF wave enhanced by Space Plasma Exploration by Active Radar (SPEAR)

S. V. Badman, D. M. Wright, L. B. N. Clausen, R. C. Fear, T. R. Robinson, and T. K. Yeoman

Abstract. Space Plasma Exploration by Active Radar (SPEAR) is a high-latitude ionospheric heating facility capable of exciting ULF waves on local magnetic field lines. We examine an interval from 1 February 2006 when SPEAR was transmitting a 1 Hz modulation signal with a 10 min on-off cycle. Ground magnetometer data indicated that SPEAR modulated currents in the local ionosphere at 1 Hz, and enhanced a natural field line resonance with a 10 min period. During this interval the Cluster spacecraft passed over the heater site. Signatures of the SPEAR-enhanced field line resonance were present in the magnetic field data measured by the magnetometer on-board Cluster-2. These are the first joint ground- and space-based detections of field line tagging by SPEAR.

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