Field-Aligned Current Morphology: Comparisons Between Simulations and Spacecraft Observations

Details Field-Aligned Current Morphology: Comparisons Between Simulations and Spacecraft Observations Field-Aligned Current Morphology: Comparisons Between Simulations and Spacecraft Observations

May 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agusmsm32a..04s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #SM32A-04

Other

2409 Current Systems (2721), 2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2721 Field-Aligned Currents And Current Systems (2409), 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions (2431), 2776 Polar Cap Phenomena

Scientific paper

Global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations can be used to place space-based observations of field- aligned currents (FACs) into a global context. Observations of FACs by the Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST) spacecraft at polar latitudes are compared with predictions from global MHD simulations as a function of Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) orientation. For positive (negative) y-component of the IMF the dusk-side (dawn-side) FACs are highly structured, and a pass of the spacecraft though these FACs suggests the possibility of a new (Region-0) current system. On the other hand, global simulations indicate that the apparent "new" current system is instead an extension and distortion of the Region-1 current system into the polar cap. Simulations also show that the polar cap boundary, defined by the last closed field-line, is highly dynamic. This explains the difficulty in uniquely identifying the polar cap boundary from particle signatures. The temporal history of the flux tubes can be complicated, with an individual flux tube undergoing multiple transitions between open and closed, even while the underlying convection pattern is relatively static.

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