Pulsating aurora and quasiperiodic VLF hiss in the auroral zone morning sector: The event of December 30, 2011

The spatial–temporal variations in aurora and VLF emissions during an weak intensification in the auroral zone morning sector on December 30, 2011, have been analyzed. The event was accompanied by a negative bay (~70 nT) in the X component of the magnetic field at ground stations in northern Scandinavia. At the recovery phase of this bay, the precipitation zone moved and VLF emission frequency simultaneously increased over ten minutes, which may indicate that waves and precipitating electrons had a common source. VLF noise bursts in the 600–1000 Hz band with a characteristic modulation scale of ~10 s and the corresponding aurora intensifications localized in the ~100 km region were observed during the following ten minutes, which also confirms that recorded waves are related to electron precipitation. This correspondence of the pulsating aurora periods and VLF noise modulation has been revealed for the first time. The role of VLF wave generation processes during the cyclotron interaction with electrons in the magnetosphere and the propagation of these waves from the magnetosphere to the observation point are discussed.     

Effect of magnetic storms and substorms on GPS slips at high latitudes

The dynamics of slips in navigation signal parameters of GPS from 2010 to 2014 is considered for the stations of the IGS and CHAIN networks located in the Arctic region. On the basis of almost continuous (more than 8 million hours) observations at around 200 receiving stations, we investigate the probability of “instrumental” loss of phase and pseudo-range as well as short-term variations in the high rate of change of the total electron content (TEC) in different geomagnetic conditions. Quantitative estimates for the impact of geomagnetic disturbances on the slips of these parameters are given. The slip probabilities for TEC are significantly (100–200 times) higher than those of purely instrumental slips and grow during geomagnetic storms and substorms. The growth of instrumental slips may be caused by the increased absorption that occurs during geomagnetic storms, among other reasons, and is an indicator of auroral intrusions of highenergy particles.     

Observations of whistler-type echoes on signals of a ground VLF transmitter on board the ‘iterkosmos-19’ satellite

Signals of VLF transmitters of the Omega navigation system located in the auroral zone (66.4°N, 13.2°E, L= 5) were recorded by the VLF receiving equipment of the Interkosmos 19 satellite. Signals at frequencies between 10.2 and 13.6 kHz were received in a region above the transmitters, frequently with whistler-type echoes. An analysis of these echoes has shown their predominating occurrence in periods of low geomagnetic activity (Kp<2+). The occurrence region of these phenomena in the outer ionosphere has the dimension of about 1000 km and its position is betweenL= 2.5 and L= 4.4. The delay of echo-signals is practically the same during one satellite pass but its values for different satellite revolutions lie between 2.5 and 3.5 s. The frequency spectrum of these signals can be broadened up to 100 Hz. On the basis of calculations made, it can be shown that the experimental results are generally in accordance with the hypothesis of nonlinear ducting of VLF waves in the magnetosphere.     

Quasiperiodic VLF emissions: Analysis of periods on different timescales

The properties of quasiperiodic (QP), extremely low-frequency (ELF), and very low-frequency (VLF) emissions detected at a ground-based station in northern Finland between 15:00 UT and 22:00 UT on December 24, 2011 were studied. Characteristic periods in the spectra of QP emissions at different timescales and their dynamics during the considered event were analyzed. Two types of period variations of the QP emissions were observed: a regular increase of periods on timescales of 1 min to 2.5 min and appreciable period variations on a timescale of 1–10 min during substorms. These period variations are explained based on the properties of a self-oscillating cyclotron-instability regime in the magnetosphere. The analysis of the fine structure of the spectra of QP elements indicated that short-periodic modulations with periods of approximately 3 and 6 s were detected in the low-frequency part of the spectrum (f < 2.5 kHz) and in the high-frequency part of the spectrum (f > 2.5 kHz), respectively. The 6 s period corresponded to the period of two-hop propagation of whistling atmospherics. The presence of this short-periodic modulation may be related to the passive mode locking in a magnetospheric cyclotron maser.     

To development of air heat pumps for operating in Russian climate

The air heat pump (HP) driven from GTP, created on the basis of aircraft GTE removed from service, is considered. The heat pump uses ambient air from negative (?40 °C) to positive (+15 °C) temperature values as a low-grade heat source and provides heating temperature in a range from 100 to 250 °C with the performance factor 2.5–3.2. The high technological burning of gas decreases its consumption for heating on the average by a factor of 1.5 in comparison with an ordinary boiler-house. Cold HP exhaust within the range of ? 50 … ? 80 °C is fed both to a drive GTP and an integrated electric energy generating GTP, this increasing their specific power by a factor of 1.2–1.4 and efficiency up to a factor of 1.05–1.1. In standard HPs designed for operation with low-grade heat sources from +5 to +10°C, the heating temperature does not exceed +60 … +65 °C for the performance factors indicated.     

Positive ion distributions in the morning auroral zone: Local acceleration and drift effects

We report on the typical structure of the large scale ion precipitation in the morning sector of the auroral zone and associated low frequency electromagnetic waves. Data obtained during near radial passes of the AUREOL-3 satellite point to a distinction between two main precipitation regions: 1) In the poleward part of the auroral zone the latitudinal variation of the average energy (or temperature) of the precipitated ions (mainly H⁺) indicate that they are adiabatically accelerated in the outer magnetosphere. This “high energy” (? 3 to > 20 keV) precipitation is usually associated with a low energy (E < 110 eV) upward flowing 0⁺ and H⁺ component, and 2) near the boundary between discrete and diffuse electron aurorae a drastic change in the ion characteristics is observed. The flux of energetic precipitated H⁺ ions is sharply reduced, which suggests the formation of an Alfvén layer. However, intense fluxes of precipitated H⁺, O⁺, and He⁺ ions with energies < 3 keV are observed equatorward of the Alfvén layer, in coincidence with the diffuse aurora and in association with quasi-monochromatic electromagnetic waves with frequencies around the proton gyrofrequency. As the characteristic convection and bounce times of the low energy upward flowing ion component are comparable (τ > 3 hours) we suggest that the precipitation of ionospheric ions inside the diffuse aurora results from convection and corotation of the ions accelerated to suprathermal energies at higher latitudes.