Evidence That IMF Fluctuations During High-Speed Solar Wind Steams Substantially Affect the Strength of Dayside Ionospheric Convection

Details Evidence That IMF Fluctuations During High-Speed Solar Wind Steams Substantially Affect the Strength of Dayside Ionospheric Convection Evidence That IMF Fluctuations During High-Speed Solar Wind Steams Substantially Affect the Strength of Dayside Ionospheric Convection

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsa32a..10k&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SA32A-10

Physics

2411 Electric Fields (2712), 2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2463 Plasma Convection (2760), 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

The orientation and magnitude of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind dynamic pressure are known to affect the strength of ionospheric convection. However, the high-speed solar wind streams during the IPY have provided the opportunity to investigate whether the ULF waves of the IMF during high- speed streams can have a substantial contribution to the strength of convection. We have examined ionospheric convection in the dayside polar cap measured by the Sondrestrom radar under various solar wind conditions. Using an extensive radar data set, we find that ULF power in the IMF is closely associated with the strength of dayside ionospheric convection. Convection flows during periods of large north-south IMF fluctuations are observed to be as strong as for steady and large southward IMF periods. Enhanced convection can be also observed even for northward IMF intervals, but only if the interplanetary magnetic field exhibits high ULF power. These observations thus suggest that IMF wave activity can significantly influence ionospheric convection. Comparisons with events with substantial ULF power not occurring during high-speed streams indicate that the ULF power is effective, independent of any direct affect from the solar wind speed. We speculate that resonance between IMF fluctuations and natural magnetospheric oscillation frequencies might be responsible for the connection between ionospheric convection and IMF ULF power. We have also found some evidence for a connection between the ULF power in the solar wind density and the strength of convection.

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