Wave polarizations of geomagnetic pulsations observed in high latitudes on the Earth's surface

A new theory is put forward, which accounts for the general characteristics of wave polarizations of low-frequency geomagnetic pulsations observed in the auroral and subauroral zones on the earth's surface. Because the displacement current can be neglected in the neutral atmosphere, the character of the polarization ellipses observed on the ground surface depends on the functional form of the localization of the pulsation disturbance. Whenever a pulsation has an elliptical polarization in a horizontal plane on the ground surface, the disturbance should be bidirectionally localized; in one direction the perturbation is propagative and in the direction orthogonal to the propagation direction it is specified by a stationary function having a sharp peak at the center line of activity. As a result, a train of magnetic potential eddies travels along the auroral zone in the neutral atmosphere near the earth's surface. The observed polarization reversals between morning and afternoon hours, between geomagnetically conjugate stations, and across the auroral zone are consistently explained by the proposed mechanism. To test this mechanism, a series of computer simulations has been performed. A new way of mapping the magnetospheric convection pattern is also proposed by utilizing the global distribution of the wave polarization of geomagnetic pulsations observed on the earth's surface.