Both odd‐mode and even‐mode standing wave structures have been proposed for giant pulsations. Unless a conclusion is drawn on the field‐aligned mode structure, little progress can be made in understanding the excitation mechanism of giant pulsations. In order to determine the standing wave mode, we have made a systematic survey of magnetic field data from the AMPTE CCE spacecraft and from ground stations located near the geomagnetic foot point of CCE. We selected time intervals when CCE was close to the magnetic equator and also magnetically close to Syowa and stations in Iceland, and when either transverse or compressional Pc 4 waves were observed at CCE. Magnetograms from the ground stations were then examined to determine if there was a giant pulsation in a given time interval. One giant pulsation was associated with a compressional wave, while no giant pulsation was observed in association with transverse wave events. The CCE magnetic field record for the giant pulsation exhibited a remarkable similarity to a giant pulsation observed from the ATS 6 geostationary satellite near the magnetic equator (Hillebrand et al., 1982). In agreement with Hillebrand et al., we conclude that the compressional nature of the giant pulsation is due to an odd‐mode standing wave structure. This conclusion places a strong constraint on the generation mechanism of giant pulsations. In particular, if giant pulsations are excited through the drift bounce resonance of ions with standing Alfvén waves, ω ‐ mωd = ±Nωb, where ω is the wave frequency, m is the azimuthal wave number, ωd is the ion drift frequency, N is an integer, and ωb is the ion bounce frequency, then the resonance must occur at an even N.
