Mapping High-Latitude Ionospheric Current System Based on Ground Magnetometers and Other Data Sets

Abstract:

Because the ionosphere and magnetosphere are intrinsically coupled along magnetic field lines, the polar ionosphere provides a viewing screen for the large-scale electrodynamics of the magnetosphere. Distributions of ionospheric convection, electric currents, and auroral precipitation are determined by several magnetospheric processes, such as the location and rate of magnetic reconnection along the magnetopause and in the magnetotail, and the energization and precipitation of magnetospheric plasmas. This paper demonstrates the utility of the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) procedure in obtaining global, large-scale distributions of ionospheric horizontal currents as well as the associated field-aligned currents based on ground magnetometers, together with various space and other ground based observations. In particular, we will investigate the current system associated with the Harang Discontinuity.