Scientific objectives
Our search-coil magnetometer is designed to study the coupling of solar wind energy to the magnetosphere and its deposition into the atmosphere, both on the dayside, near the polar cusp/cleft regions, and on the nightside, in the form of aurorae as a result of the substorm process.

This project focuses on the three categories of waves in the middle and upper ULF frequency bands: (1) Pc 1-2 (electromagnetic ion cyclotron) wave generation and propagation, both on closed field lines and in the cusp/LLBL/mantle regions; (2) Pc 3-4 pulsation propagation from its upstream source into and through the dayside magnetosphere and polar cap; and (3) Irregular wave activity in the upper ULF frequency range (Pi 1), which may arise from several sources, as a diagnostic of solar wind – magnetosphere coupling and internal magnetospheric instabilities such as substorms.

The ULF measurements with a closely-spaced array (total of four identical magnetometer systems located in Ny-Ålesund, Longyearbyen, Barentsburg, and Hornsund in Svalbard) provide an opportunity to obtain new insights into the propagation characteristics of these waves.

Owner: Augsburg College and University of New Hampshire
Contacts
Co-PI: Mark Engebretson
Address: Department of Physics Augsburg College, 2211 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1338, USA.
E-mail: engebret@augsburg.edu

Co-PI: Marc R. Lessard
Address: Space Science Center and Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire, 39 College Road, Durham, NH. 03824, USA.
E-mail: marc.lessard@unh.edu

Instrument specifications
Magnetic sensor orientation: 2 axes
(magnetic N-S and E-W)
Frequency response: DC-5Hz (-3dB)
Magnetic sensor sensitivity: 150 microV/nT * Hz
System sensitivity: 4.43 V/nT * Hz
Dynamic range: +/- 2.26 nT
ADC bit resolution: 1 pT * Hz
System resolution: 10 pT/Hz^-2
ADC sampling rate: 10 samples/sec
GPS timing accuracy: 39 msec