Search Results (3)

It is well understood that near midnight, the Harang Discontinuity separates the auroral duskside eastward electrojet (EEJ) and dawnside westward electrojet (WEJ) and associated plasma flows driven by enhanced magnetospheric convections via Magnetosphere–Ionosphere (M–I) coupling. There are conflicting reports regarding the significance of Region1 (R1) and R2 currents and the enhancement of Sub-Auroral Polarization Streams (SAPS) in the Harang region. We investigate the M–I conjugate Harang and SAPS phenomena using multipoint satellite observations. Results show the inner-magnetosphere (1) Harang region at midnight (between the plasmapause and the closed/open field-line boundary) with (2) a strong SAPS electric field (E_X ≈ 30 mV/m; in magnitude) in a fast-time voltage generator (VG_FT) near the plasmapause and the topside ionosphere (3) Harang Discontinuity (where R1 and R2 currents flow along) with (4) an enhanced SAPS flow (~1800 m/s) in the underlying VG_FT system (requiring no R2 currents). From these (1–4) findings we conclude (i) the significance of both R1 and R2 currents in the observed M–I conjugate Harang phenomenon’s development, (ii) the different development of the reversing EEJ–WEJ compared to the regular auroral EEJ and WEJ in the topside ionosphere R1–R2 system, and (iii) the R2 currents’ absence in the enhanced SAPS flow newly formed in the VG_FT system. Full article

Due to the limitations on observational data, most storm-enhanced density (SED) studies have focused on the North American sector. The complete picture of the longitudinal evolution of SEDs is still not clear. In this study, we investigated the dynamic evolution of SEDs from the European sector to the North American sector during a geomagnetic storm that occurred on the 15 July 2012, the main phase of which lasted nearly 30 h, maintaining the stable interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind input conditions. Multiple data sets were analyzed, including convection data from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), total electron contents (TECs) from the Madrigal database, plasma data from the Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar (MHISR), solar wind and geomagnetic indices from OMNIWeb, and regional auroral electrojet indices from SuperMAG. The observations showed that the positions of SEDs shifted from local noon over the European sector towards dusk over the American sector and simultaneously moved to lower latitudes. The peak values of SED TECs were found to be greater in the European sector and to decrease with universal time. A double SED phenomenon appeared in the North American sector, which is the first of its kind to be reported. Further analysis showed that the temporal and spatial changes in the SEDs were associated with the eastward auroral electrojet. Full article

The ionospheric response and the associated mechanisms to geomagnetic storms are very complex, particularly during the February 2014 multiphase geomagnetic storm. In this paper, the low-latitude ionosphere responses and their coupling mechanisms, during the February 2014 multiphase geomagnetic storm, are investigated from ground-based magnetometers and global navigation satellite system (GNSS), and space weather data. The residual disturbances between the total electron content (TEC) of the International GNSS Service (IGS) global ionospheric maps (GIMs) and empirical models are used to investigate the storm-time ionospheric responses. Three clear sudden storm commencements (SSCs) on 15, 20, and 23 February are detected, and one high speed solar wind (HSSW) event on 19 February is found with the absence of classical SSC features due to a prevalent magnetospheric convection. The IRI-2012 shows insufficient performance, with no distinction between the events and overestimating approximately 20 TEC units (TECU) with respect to the actual quiet-time TEC. Furthermore, the median average of the IGS GIMs TEC during February 2014 shows enhanced values in the southern hemisphere, whereas the IRI-2012 lacks this asymmetry. Three low-latitude profiles extracted from the IGS GIM data revealed up to 20 TECU enhancements in the differential TEC. From these profiles, longer-lasting TEC enhancements are observed at the dip equator profiles than in the profiles of the equatorial ionospheric anomaly (EIA) crests. Moreover, a gradual increase in the global electron content (GEC) shows approximately 1 GEC unit of differential intensification starting from the HSSW event, while the IGS GIM profiles lack this increasing gradient, probably located at higher latitudes. The prompt penetration electric field (PPEF) and equatorial electrojet (EEJ) indices estimated from magnetometer data show strong variability after all four events, except the EEJ’s Asian sector. The low-latitude ionosphere coupling is mainly driven by the variable PPEF, DDEF (disturbance dynamo electric fields), and Joule heating. The auroral electrojet causing eastward PPEF may control the EIA expansion in the Asian sector through the dynamo mechanism, which is also reflected in the solar-quiet current intensity variability. Full article