Statistical Properties of Intense, Small-Scaled Field-Aligned Currents at Auroral Latitudes

Details Statistical Properties of Intense, Small-Scaled Field-Aligned Currents at Auroral Latitudes Statistical Properties of Intense, Small-Scaled Field-Aligned Currents at Auroral Latitudes

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsm14a..04r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SM14A-04

Other

1541 Satellite Magnetics: Main Field, Crustal Field, External Field, 2409 Current Systems (2721), 2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 2721 Field-Aligned Currents And Current Systems (2409)

Scientific paper

Bursts of very intense field-aligned currents (FACs) are observed quite frequently by the CHAMP satellite when passing through the auroral region. In extreme cases estimated current densities exceed 3 mA/m2. Typical scale sizes of these FACs are 1 km. The low-Earth, polar orbiting satellite CHAMP allows assessing FACs down to scales of a couple of 100m based on its high-precision magnetic field vector data sampled at 50 Hz. Using data from 5 years (2001-2005) the details of these currents can be investigated. In our statistical study we find that most of the FAC bursts are encountered in the cusp/cleft region. Significantly fewer events are found on the night side. The affected region is typically 3-5 deg. wide in latitude. There seems to be a certain dependence of the current intensity on the level of magnetic activity, Kp. On the other hand, no dependence has been found on the solar flux level, F10.7 or the solar zenith angle. These small-scale FACs are generally part of strong large-scale FAC sheets, and they are predominantly associated to upward FACs. We regard them as a result of current filamentation which is initiated when the current strength surpasses a critical value.

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