Physics
Scientific paper
Jun 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001georl..28.2145m&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 28, Issue 11, p. 2145-2148
Physics
23
Ionosphere: Plasma Convection, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, Magnetospheric Physics: Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
Changes in ionospheric flow patterns provide direct observations of how the magnetosphere-ionosphere system is coupled to the IMF. The nature and location of reconnection on the magnetopause is communicated to the ionosphere, which responds by reconfiguring global convection patterns. We investigate the dynamics of the changing global ionospheric convection patterns using a large two-dimensional array of ground magnetometers. We have found that for sharp north to south transitions of the IMF, dayside ionospheric convection patterns globally reconfigure themselves in timescales as short as 8 minutes. We find that all local times initially respond within 1-2 minutes of the first detectable response in the ionosphere. The length of time (after the initial onset) required for the ionosphere to transition from its initial state to its new state, which we refer to as the reconfiguration time, is measured. IMF Bz northward to southward transitions have reconfiguration times near local noon of approximately 5 minutes and lengthen approximately 2 minutes for every 3 hours of local time away from noon.
Hughes Jeffrey W.
Murr David Lee
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