Contribution of pressure gradients to the generation of dawnside region 1 and region 2 currents

Details Contribution of pressure gradients to the generation of dawnside region 1 and region 2 currents Contribution of pressure gradients to the generation of dawnside region 1 and region 2 currents

Dec 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997jgr...10227069i&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 102, Issue A12, p. 27069-27082

Physics

11

Magnetospheric Physics: Auroral Phenomena, Magnetospheric Physics: Current Systems, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Convection

Scientific paper

We have examined 92 observations of magnetic fields and ion fluxes acquired with the DMSP F7 satellite in the dawn sector (0600 to 1000 eccentric dipole local time (EDLT)). The location and amplitude of large-scale region 1 and region 2 field-aligned currents have been identified in the traditional manner from gradients in the transverse magnetic field disturbances. Latitude profiles of ion pressure were computed from the ion flux measurements by assuming these fluxes to be isotropic. We have discovered that the locations of the ion pressure distributions are almost identical with those of the field-aligned currents and they have peaks which are very close to the latitudes of the interface between the region 1 and region 2 currents. Consequently, positive and negative gradients in ion pressure occur in the region 2 and region 1 field-aligned current regions, respectively, at the satellite's altitude of 840 km. Using these facts and a logic of stress strategy to generate the field-aligned current system, we proposed that the dawnside regions 1 and 2 currents are derived from a common magnetospheric current which is driven by pressure-gradient force and flows across these currents. This finding recognized the important role that field-aligned currents have in transporting tangential stress (transverse momentum) along geomagnetic field lines.

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