Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Using the magnetic field data obtained by the DE-1 polar orbiting satellite, statistical characteristics of transverse Pc5 pulsations in the inner magnetosphere are examined. The occurrence distribution is found to have a strong dawn/dusk asymmetry. The occurrence is most frequent in the region around 72° invariant latitude (ILAT) between 0800 and 1000 MLT. The distribution shifts to lower ILAT both in the early morning and in the afternoon sectors. Our results are generally consistent with the occurrence distributions obtained by previous studies except for appreciable differences in the local time of the peak occurrence. The dependence of the transverse Pc5 occurrence on solar wind velocity is also investigated. Results show that the higher the solar wind velocity, the more frequent the Pc5 occurrence. This fact suggests that the energy source of these Pc5's is in the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) on the magnetopause. To explain the strong dawn/dusk asymmetry, the dependence of the Pc5 occurrence on the angle between the solar wind velocity and the IMF in the ecliptic plane is investigated. It is found that this angle controls the magnetic local time of Pc5 appearance when the solar wind velocity is small. This dependence may be explained by the low threshold of KHI due to an influence of a quasi-parallel bow shock.

Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, No. 15, 2053-2056, Aug. 1995