Identification of the poleward boundary of the auroral oval using characteristics of ion precipitation

Journal Article · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Journal of Geophysical Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/95JA03634· OSTI ID:255035

Troshichev, O A; Shishkina, E M ^[1]; Meng, C I; Newell, P T ^[2]

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1. Arctic and Antartic Research Institute, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)
2. Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)

The authors look for characteristics to identify the poleward edge of the auroral oval, by looking at precipitation properties of electrons and ions from DMSP F6 and F7 crossings of this region. They average the readings over 1/2 degree in latitude, and normalize them to flux maxima for each pass. The precipitation data clearly indicates the presence of the auroral oval. As one moves poleward then dependent upon the interplanetary magnetic field orientation, the precipitation falls off one or more orders of magnitude when B{sub z}>0, or when B{sub z}<0, it degenerates to an unstructured type of polar rain, with no clear ion precipitation evident. For B{sub z}>0 there are clear markers for identifying the inner edge of the oval, which are not so evident for southward fields. They discuss the significance of this boundary layer.

• OSTI ID: 255035
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research Journal Issue: A3 Vol. 101; ISSN JGREA2; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
AURORAL OVAL
BOUNDARY LAYERS
CHARGED-PARTICLE PRECIPITATION