Field-aligned currents associated with spatially periodic X ray structures in the morningside auroral oval

Details Field-aligned currents associated with spatially periodic X ray structures in the morningside auroral oval Field-aligned currents associated with spatially periodic X ray structures in the morningside auroral oval

Dec 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995jgr...10023945r&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 100, Issue A12, p. 23945-23952

Physics

2

Ionosphere: Auroral Ionosphere, Magnetospheric Physics: Current Systems, Ionosphere: Current Systems, Magnetospheric Physics: Auroral Phenomena

Scientific paper

On February 9, 1992, the Atmospheric X ray Imaging Spectrometer (AXIS) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) observed spatially periodic structures in X ray luminosity from the top of the atmosphere during a pass over the dawnside auroral oval. The patches of luminosity were several hundred kilometers in size and separated by a mean distance of about 700 km. As many as a dozen distinct patches could be identified extending from local times just after midnight to the noon meridian. The characteristics of the precipitating electrons responsible for the patches were determined from the measured X ray fluxes. Peak electron energy fluxes were between 4 and 10 ergscm-2s-1 with e-folding energies of 10-25 keV. In situ magnetic field data from the onboard magnetometer were used to model the field-aligned currents associated with two of the patches. The model that best fit the data had upward currents in the western portions of the patches and more intense downward currents confined to the eastern edges. The modeling also indicated that these small-scale currents were embedded within the large-scale region 2 field-aligned current sheet. Data from a ground-based magnetometer near the satellite ground track indicated the presence of Ps 6 pulsations. We have interpreted the observations in terms of eastward-drifting current patch systems. Under this assumption, the patches moved at 1.7 kms-1, the drift speed of ~30-keV electrons. This motion, and the correlation with Ps 6 pulsations suggests that the X ray patches were associated with omega bands that are seen in the morning sector during geomagnetically active times.

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