Magnetic & Acoustic Waves in the Aurora Jada Maxwell Photo: Michael Klensch Courtesy of
Can magnetic waves in the aurora transform into acoustic waves?
Magnetic Waves Earth
Transform into Sound Waves Earth
Alfvén waves (s-mode) Magnetosonic (like acoustic waves=p-mode) Types of Magnetic Waves Images courtesy of Georgia State University BBC animations
Velocity of Waves
Beta
Plasma is like Rubber Bands in Jello
LocationAltitude (km) Fairbanks, Ak120 Seattle, Wa120 Equator150 Where Does Beta=1?
Image courtesy of Graph made from data obtained at Earth’s Atmosphere
Calculating Magnetic Pressure (P B )
Calculating Gas Pressure (P G )
Calculating Velocity of Acoustic Waves (C S )
Calculating Velocity of Alfvén Wave (V A )
Calculations for Fairbanks, Ak
LocationAltitude (km) Fairbanks, Ak120 Seattle, Wa120 Equator150 Where Does Beta=1?
How does atmospheric heating from auroral processes affect Beta? At what frequencies do these waves occur? How much does wave transformation contribute to infrasound compared with the gas expansion theory? More Questions to Investigate
Sources: Thanks to Dr. E.J. Zita for her guidance and helpful discussions Johnson, M.C., Petty-Powell, Sarah and Zita, E.J., ‘Energy Transport by MHD Waves Above the Photosphere Numerical Simulations,’ 17 Oct 2002 Michael Klensch Courtesy of Graph made from data obtained at Georgia State University