Multipoint Observations of Dispersive Scale Alfvénic Field‐Line Resonances Associated With Substorm Auroral Beads

We present a case study of the field‐aligned current (FAC) systems that transpire within the high‐altitude auroral acceleration region of an “auroral bead” initiated double oval substorm observed on 23 February 2001 by the Cluster fleet. Conjunctive Cluster measurements and auroral images from IMAGE reveal that auroral bead current system formation and evolution is a multi‐scale, injection‐mediated process. The FACs at large scales vary on substorm evolution time scales (∼minutes) in response to the injection and evolution of hotter denser magnetospheric plasma. Embedded within the large‐scale FACs are intense short‐scale (≲ few 10s of km) currents comprising dispersive scale Alfvén wave (DAW) fluctuations. The DAWs are a complex mixture of ingoing and reflected components that regularly interfere to form a broad spectrum of kinetic (dispersive) scale Alfvénic field‐line resonances (KFLRs). The Alfvénic currents appear as a nested series of upward and downward FAC densities with amplitudes reaching a few 100 nA/m2. Energized field‐aligned or counterstreaming electrons near keV energies and below are observed with parallel skews that vary in concert with variations in the DAW current sense. Positive correlations between DAW electric field energy densities and the energies of energized H+, He+, and O+ outflow are observed, indicative of ion energization within the DAW fields. Due to their L‐shell location (L ∼5.8–7.0) and associations with injections, the KFLRs are interpreted as the high‐altitude auroral zone analog of KFLRs observed in the equatorial inner magnetosphere.

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