Observations of large-scale Birkeland currents with Viking

Physics

Scientific paper

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Birkeland Currents, Ionospheric Currents, Satellite Observation, Scientific Satellites, Electron Energy, Geomagnetism, Morning, Plasma Layers, Swedish Space Program

Scientific paper

Data from the Viking Magnetic Field Experiment and Hot Plasma Experiment acquired on March 25, 1986 are analyzed. The large-scale region 1 and region 2 Birkeland current systems (with densities of about 0.1 microA/sq m) were readily identified in the morning sector at altitudes of 12,500 to 13,000 km. Embedded in the large-scale region 1 system are small-scale intense currents that are not necessarily aligned in the east-west geomagnetic direction. The major carriers of the large-scale region 1 Birkeland currents appear to be upward-flowing electrons with energies below 10 eV. Embedded within this flux can be spatially limited regions of 'hotter' electron fluxes that carry small-scale currents. The correlation of magnetic and particle observations obtained here supports previous suggestions that the region 1 currents in the morning sector have their source in the boundary layer and that the region 2 currents are associated with the plasma sheet.

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