Magnetotail responses to sudden and quasi-periodic solar wind variations

A clear bipolar (negative/positive) signature in the Ey component was observed by the Cluster satellite in the magnetotail during a sudden impulse (si) on October 11, 2001 (day 284). During the interval of the negative perturbation in Ey, the magnetic field strength in Bx, a dominant magnetic field component, was nearly constant. However, the amplitude of Bx was strongly enhanced during the positive Ey perturbation. We suggest that the observed E and B field variations are due to outward/inward plasma motions, associated with expanded and then compressed magnetopause variations. We also observed quasi-periodic geomagnetic perturbations in the Pc5 band (∼1-6 mHz) at the low-latitude ground station Kakioka (L = 1.25) following the si event. They were highly correlated with the magnetic field perturbations at Cluster in the magnetotail (Xgse = ∼12 Re). We show that the source of these perturbations is the quasi-periodic solar wind pressure variations moving tailward.