On the Relationship Between Thin Birkeland Current Arcs and Reversed Flow Channels in the Winter Cusp/Cleft Ionosphere

Details On the Relationship Between Thin Birkeland Current Arcs and Reversed Flow Channels in the Winter Cusp/Cleft Ionosphere On the Relationship Between Thin Birkeland Current Arcs and Reversed Flow Channels in the Winter Cusp/Cleft Ionosphere

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsm51b1639m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SM51B-1639

Other

2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 2706 Cusp, 2712 Electric Fields (2411), 2721 Field-Aligned Currents And Current Systems (2409), 2776 Polar Cap Phenomena

Scientific paper

A Reversed flow event (RFE) is a longitudinally elongated, 100-200 km wide channel, in which the flow direction is opposite to the background convection. Reversed Flow Events (RFEs) seem regulated by Birkeland current arcs in the winter cusp ionosphere above Svalbard. There is always a discrete auroral form situated at the clockwise flow reversal of the RFE, a thin Birkeland current arc, consistent with a converging electric field and an upward field-aligned current (FAC). One category of RFEs propagates into the polar cap in tandem with poleward moving auroral forms, while another category of RFEs moves with the cusp/cleft boundary. The RFE phenomenon is addressed to a region void of electron precipitation, and in lack of direct sunlight the E-region conductivity will be very low. We propose two possible explanations: i) The RFE channel may be a boundary transition phenomenon between two MI-current loops mapping to different locations forced by independent voltage generators with a small gap between them. ii) The reversed flow channel may be the ionospheric footprint of an inverted-V type coupling region. Electron beams of <1 keV will not give rise to significant conductivity gradients and the form of a discontinuity in the magnetospheric electric field will be conserved when mapped down to the ionosphere. These two explanations may be related in the sense that the boundary discontinuity in the magnetospheric electric field in i) may be the driver for the inverted-V in ii).

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

On the Relationship Between Thin Birkeland Current Arcs and Reversed Flow Channels in the Winter Cusp/Cleft Ionosphere 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 On the Relationship Between Thin Birkeland Current Arcs and Reversed Flow Channels in the Winter Cusp/Cleft Ionosphere, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On the Relationship Between Thin Birkeland Current Arcs and Reversed Flow Channels in the Winter Cusp/Cleft Ionosphere will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1099326