Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufmsm71b..07r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #SM71B-07
Other
2415 Equatorial Ionosphere, 2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2435 Ionospheric Disturbances, 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, 3369 Thermospheric Dynamics (0358)
Scientific paper
Thermospheric winds are forced primarily by non-uniform solar heating, by atmospheric tides and other waves coming from below, and by ion drag and Joule heating associated with high-latitude convection. The high-latitude ion drag above 120 km altitude tends to drive winds in the direction of the ionospheric convection, although inertia of the air and other forces prevent a tight coupling of the ion and neutral motions. The tendency for high-latitude winds to move in the direction of ion motion tends to reduce the effective conductance of the ionosphere as felt by the magnetosphere, with consequences for magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. The inertia of the air can cause delayed ``flywheel'' effects, which can potentially help maintain magnetospheric convection after a sudden reduction in the strength of solar-wind/magnetosphere coupling. At low latitudes, the ionospheric electric fields associated with magnetospheric disturbances can have complex temporal behavior. The electric field that penetrates to the equator directly from the polar cap tends to enhance the regular quiet-day equatorial east-west electric field. In contrast, the equatorial east-west electric field produced by the ``shielding'' region-2 currents tends to act oppositely to the directly penetrating field, but with a time delay of tens of minutes. Disturbance thermospheric winds have an ionospheric dynamo effect that also tends to act oppositely to the directly penetrating field, but with a time delay of a few hours. The combined effects can lead to electric-field disturbances of either sign, including long-lasting ``overshielding'' disturbances that can reduce or even reverse the normal quiet-day equatorial east-west electric field.
No associations
LandOfFree
The Role of Thermospheric Winds in Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Role of Thermospheric Winds in Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Role of Thermospheric Winds in Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1439738