Effect of the interplanetary magnetic field Y component on the high-latitude nightside convection

Technical Report · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5842314

La Beaujardiere, O; Wickwar, V B; Kelly, J D; King, J H

Sondrestrom radar observations reveal that the dawn-dusk (By) component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strongly influence the nightside polar convection. This effect is quite complex. The convection for one orientation of By is not the mirror image of the other orientation. A positive By (i.e., pointing toward dusk) seems to organize the velocities such that, at all local times, they are predominantly westward within the radar field-of-view (approx. 68 deg -to-82 deg invariant latitude). Between dusk and midnight, on one such occasion, sunward flow is observed within the polar cap. In the midnight and dawn sectors, when By is negative, the plasma velocities often appear random. For large negative By, the afternoon cell appears shifted toward early hours such that large southward velocities are observed about 3 hours before midnight. These are the only times when the predominant velocity component is southward.

• Research Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5842314
• Report Number(s): AD-A-164066/3/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201 -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
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640203* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Magnetospheric Phenomena-- (-1987)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AURORAE
CONVECTION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ENERGY TRANSFER
HEAT TRANSFER
INCOHERENT SCATTERING
INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELDS
INTERPLANETARY SPACE
IONOSPHERE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MASS TRANSFER
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
RADAR
RANGE FINDERS
SCATTERING
SPACE
VELOCITY