Global measures of ionospheric electrodynamic activity inferred from combined incoherent scatter radar and ground magnetometer observations

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA095iA02p01061· OSTI ID:5027439

Richmond, A D ^[1]; Kamide, Y ^[2]; Akasofu, S I ^[3]; Alcayde, D ^[4]; Blanc, M ^[5]; De LaBeaujardiere, O ^[6]; Evans, D S ^[7]; Foster, J C; Holt, J M ^[8]; Friis-Christensen, E ^[9]; Pellinen, R J ^[10]; Senior, C ^[11]; Zaitzev, A N

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1. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
2. Kyoto Sangyo Univ. (Japan)
3. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks (United States)
4. Univ. Paul Sabatier, Toulouse (France)
5. Observatoire Midi Pyrenees, Toulouse (France)
6. SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (United States)
7. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO (United States)
8. Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Westford (United States)
9. Meteorologisk Inst., Copenhagen (Denmark)
10. Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)
11. Centre de Recherches en Physique de l'Environnement, St. Maur des Fosses (France)

An analysis of several global measures of high-latitude ionospheric electrodynamic activity is undertakn on the basis of results obtained from the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) procedure applied to incoherent scatter radar and ground magnetometer observatons for January 18-19, 1984. Different global measures of electric potentials, currents, resistances, and energy transfer from the magnetosphere show temporal variations that are generally well correlated. The authors present parameterizations of thees quantities in terms of the AE index and the hemispheric power index of precipitating auroral particles. It is shown how error estimates of the mapped electric fields can be used to correct the estimation of Joule heating. Global measures of potential drop, field-aligned current, and Joule heating as obtained by the AMIE procedure are compared with similar measures presented in previous studies. Agreement is found to within the uncertainties inherent in each study. The mean potential drop through which field-aligned currents flow in closing through the ionosphere is approximately 28% of the total polar cap potential drop under all conditions during these 2 days. They note that order-of-magnitude differences can appear when comparing different global measures of total electric current flow and of effective resistances of the global circuit, so that care must be exercised in choosing characteristic values of these parameters for circuit-analogy studies of ionosphere-magnetosphere electrodynamic coupling.

• OSTI ID: 5027439
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 95:A2; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
IONOSPHERE
ELECTRODYNAMICS
AURORAL ZONES
CHARGED-PARTICLE PRECIPITATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CORRELATIONS
DATA ANALYSIS
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ENERGY TRANSFER
GROUND LEVEL
JOULE HEATING
RADAR
VARIATIONS
CURRENTS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTRIC HEATING
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
EVALUATION
HEATING
LEVELS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
PLASMA HEATING
RANGE FINDERS
RESISTANCE HEATING
640201* - Atmospheric Physics- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena