SM41B-05:
Solar Wind and IMF Control of Large-Scale Ionospheric Currents and Their Time Variations
Thursday, 18 December 2014: 9:00 AM
Liisa Juusola1, Kirsti Kauristie2, Eija Tanskanen1, Noora Partamies3, Ari Viljanen1, Katerina Andréeová4, Max van de Kamp1, Heikki Vanhamäki5, Stephen E Milan6, Mark Lester6, Adrian Grocott7 and Suzanne M Imber8, (1)Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland, (2)Finnish Meteorological Inst, Helsinki, Finland, (3)Finnish Meteorological Institu, Helsinki, Finland, (4)University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, Helsinki, Finland, (5)University of Oulu, Department of Physics, Oulu, Finland, (6)University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, (7)Lancaster University, Department of Physics, Lancaster, United Kingdom, (8)Radio and Space Plasma Physics, Leicester, United Kingdom
Abstract:
Patterns of high-latitude ionospheric currents are a manifestation of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Rapid variations of the currents are associated with geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in technological conductor systems and displays of bright, diverse auroras. One advantage of a ground-based magnetometer network over a low-orbit satellite is the possibility to distinguish between temporal and spatial variations in the data. Although ground magnetic field data can only yield distributions of ionospheric equivalent currents instead of the full horizontal and field-aligned current density, estimates for these can be obtained, under certain assumptions. We use data (1994-2013) from the ground-based IMAGE magnetometer network to derive statistical distributions of the large-scale ionospheric equivalent current density and its time-derivative as well as estimates for the field-aligned current density. These are compared with and validated against horizontal and field-aligned current density distributions obtained from low-orbit CHAMP satellite magnetic field data (2000-2010) and convection maps obtained from SuperDARN radar data (2000-2010). The ground-based distributions reveal a strong dependence of the dayside variations on radial interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation and solar wind speed. The spatial distribution of enhanced nightside activity agrees with that of the average substorm bulge and depends on solar wind energy input into the magnetosphere. The most intense time variation events are related to substorm activity and occur on the nightside.
