Long-Period ULF Wave Activity in the Cusp Region

We compare simultaneous observations of long-period ULF wave activity from the Svalbard/IMAGE and Greenland fluxgate magnetometer profiles covering the expected cusp geomagnetic latitudes. Irregular Pulsations at Cusp Latitudes (IPCL) and narrow-band Pc5 waves are found to be a ubiquitous element of ULF activity in the dayside high-latitude region. To identify the ionospheric projections of the cusp, we use the width of the return signal of the SuperDARN radar covering the Svalbard archipelago, predictions of empirical cusp models, and augmented whenever possible by DMSP identification of magnetospheric boundary domains. The meridional spatial structure of IPCL/Pc5 pulsation spectral power has been found to have a localized latitudinal peak, but not under the cusp proper as was previously thought, but several degrees southward from the equatorward cusp boundary. Possible mechanisms and their relevance to observational data are discussed. The occurrence of IPCL and Pc5 waves in the dayside boundary layers is a challenge to modelers, because so far their mechanism has not been firmly identified.