This paper reports two unique auroral features: postmidnight purple auroral rays and global Pc1 geomagnetic pulsations, observed before the onset of the corotating interaction region (CIR) storm of 21 March 2017, at the beginning of the first campaign of the new Particles and Waves in the Inner magnetosphere using Ground‐based network observation (PWING) longitudinal ground network with the Arase satellite. The purple auroral rays were observed from ~0315 to 0430 UT (~03–04 magnetic local time) in the northeastern sky at Husafell, Iceland (magnetic latitude: 64.9°N). We newly propose that the entry of high‐density CIR plasma into the magnetotail created purple auroral rays in the sunlit ionosphere. Pc1 geomagnetic pulsations at frequencies of 0–0.5 Hz were observed after ~00 UT over a wide local time range, of 13 hr, from midnight to afternoon sectors at subauroral latitudes associated with CIR arrival. These results indicate preconditioning of the magnetosphere due to crossing of a CIR.

[1] We have investigated Pc1 geomagnetic pulsations observed by induction magnetometers at three low-latitude stations (Paratunka (PTK), Moshiri (MSR), and Sata (STA), L=1.2–2.1). A detailed polarization analysis shows that polarization parameters (angle of polarization ellipse orientation, Ψ, and polarization sense, ɛ) of individual Pc1 bands depend on frequency at all three stations. The dependence of Ψ on frequency was seen in ∼70% of the 93 Pc1 events observed at MSR (L=1.5) from 14 July 2007 to 13 July 2009. The maxima of seasonal and diurnal variations of the occurrence rate were in winter and during the nighttime, as reported previously, indicating that the transmission of observed Pc1 pulsations to lower latitudes is controlled by the density of the F layer plasma. These facts suggest that spatially distributed Pc1 waves with varying frequencies depending on longitude or latitude at high latitudes propagated in the ionospheric duct to cause the frequency dependence of polarization parameters at low latitudes. We also suggest that the Pc1 pearl structure with a repetition period of ∼5–30 s observed at low latitudes is a beat of high-latitude waves with slightly different frequencies.