Signature of the Polar Cap in Ionospheric Currents and Electron Temperature as Observed by CHAMP

Details Signature of the Polar Cap in Ionospheric Currents and Electron Temperature as Observed by CHAMP Signature of the Polar Cap in Ionospheric Currents and Electron Temperature as Observed by CHAMP

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm54b..06r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM54B-06

Physics

[2407] Ionosphere / Auroral Ionosphere, [2721] Magnetospheric Physics / Field-Aligned Currents And Current Systems, [2748] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetotail Boundary Layers, [2776] Magnetospheric Physics / Polar Cap Phenomena

Scientific paper

In the polar cap the magnetic field lines are open and solar wind plasma can enter the ionosphere as polar rain. Reconnection on the dayside adds more open flux, thus increasing the size of the polar cap. Conversely, on the nightside, reconnection in the magnetotail re-closes open field lines and therefore moves the open-closed boundary to higher latitudes. The polar cap boundary (PCB), i.e. the boundary between the polar cap and the surrounding auroral oval, is regarded the ionospheric projection of the open-closed boundary. It is characterized by a drop in conductivity due to decreased energetic particle precipitation rates over the polar cap. Within the F region polar cap the electron temperature is reduced compared to the surrounding auroral oval and this change can be utilized to determine the polar cap boundary (e.g. Ostgaard et al., 2005; Aikio et al., 2006). We test this method by means of satellite observations. For polar cap identification we use the variations of small-scale field-aligned currents (FAC), electrojet currents, and electron temperatures as observed by CHAMP on polar passes. These variations are compared to observations by the EISCAT radar and precipitating fluxes from the DMSP satellite. Significance and reliability of the individually determined boundaries are discussed.

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