Ionospheric convection response to changing IMF direction

Journal Article · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/90GL02592· OSTI ID:5187440

Knipp, D J ^[1]; Richmond, A D; Emery, B ^[2]; de la Beaujardiere, O ^[3]; Crooker, N U; Kroehl, H; Evans, D

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1. Air Force Academy, CO (USA)
2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (USA)
3. SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (USA)

By combining ground-based and satellite-based measurements of ionospheric electric fields, conductivities and magnetic perturbations, the authors are able to examine the characteristics of instantaneous, ionospheric convection patterns associated with changing directions of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). In response to a rapid southward-to-northward turning of the IMF on 23 July 1983, the ionospheric convection reconfigured over a period of 40 minutes. The configuration changed from a conventional two-cell pattern to a contracted four-cell pattern, with reversed convection cells in the high-latitude dayside, associated with a strong potential drop of about 75 kV. Later, in response to a gradual rotation of the IMF from the +Z through the {minus}Y toward the {minus}Z direction, the nightside cells disappeared and the dawn cell in the reversed pair wrapped around and displaced the dusk cell until a conventional two-cell pattern was reestablished, largely in accord with the qualitative model of Crooker (1988). The results suggest that multiple cells can arise as a result of strong southward to northward transitions in the IMF. They appear to persist for sometime thereafter.

• OSTI ID: 5187440
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (United States), Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (United States) Vol. 18:4; ISSN 0094-8276; ISSN GPRLA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CONFIGURATION
CONVECTION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ENERGY TRANSFER
FUNCTIONS
GROUND LEVEL
HEAT TRANSFER
INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELDS
IONOSPHERE
LEVELS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICS
ORIENTATION
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
RESPONSE FUNCTIONS
SATELLITES
STATISTICS