Simultaneous appearance of isolated auroral arcs and Pc 1 geomagnetic pulsations at subauroral latitudes

We have been conducting observations of aurora and geomagnetic pulsations at Athabasca, Canada, located at a subauroral latitude ( magnetic latitude: 62 degrees, L similar to 4.6), using an all-sky imager and an induction magnetometer. Isolated auroral arcs at wavelengths of 557.7 nm, 630.0 nm, and 486.1 nm ( H-beta) were often observed at latitudes separated equatorward from the main auroral oval. From a 1-year observation ( 4 September 2005 to 3 September 2006), we found 13 isolated arc events. All these isolated arcs occurred coincidentally with Pc 1 geomagnetic pulsations, although there were nine other Pc 1 events without isolated arcs in the field of view of the imager. The arcs were observed in both pre- and post-midnight sectors and tended to appear during the late recovery phase of geomagnetic storms. The isolated arcs had limited latitudinal and longitudinal widths of less than 230 km and 250 - 800 km, respectively. We found that as isolated arcs moved equatorward ( poleward), the frequencies of the simultaneous Pc 1 pulsations increased ( decreased). Using the Tsyganenko-02 magnetic field model, the observed Pc 1 frequencies were almost the same as the frequencies of He+ electromagnetic ion cyclotron ( EMIC) waves at the equatorial plane connected to observed isolated arcs. These results indicate that interactions of spatially localized EMIC waves with ring current ions cause high-energy ion precipitation and associated isolated auroras at subauroral latitudes. These results also imply that the dynamics and instabilities in the inner magnetosphere can be monitored as low-latitude auroral emissions away from the ordinary auroral oval.