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Sofko et al. 1995
Sofko, G.J., Greenwald, R. and Bristow, W. (1995). Direct determination of large-scale magnetospheric field-aligned currents with SuperDARN. Geophysical Research Letters 22: doi: 10.1029/95GL01317. issn: 0094-8276.

The SuperDARN (Super Dual Auroral Radar Network) radars measure large-scale 2D images of the plasma convection velocity v in the high-latitude F-region. From the 2D convection maps, plasma flow vorticity can be directly calculated. We show that the vorticity is a direct measure of Jm/&Sgr;P, the ''magnetospheric'' component Jm of the field-aligned current (FAC) per unit height-integrated Pedersen conductivity &Sgr;P. The maps of Jm/&Sgr;P show clearly the Region 0, 1, and 2 currents, uncontaminated by the ''ionospheric'' FAC component Ji caused by ionospheric Pedersen and Hall conductivity gradients (which are important in the nightside substorm sector). The generation of the large-scale magnetospheric FAC images of Jm/&Sgr;P from the SuperDARN convection vorticity is explained and examples of dayside FAC patterns for northward and southward IMF conditions are presented for the SuperDARN radar pair in Canada at Saskatoon and Kapuskasing. By summer, 1995, FAC images will be available from three northern hemisphere SuperDARN radar pairs, with a field-of-view extending over some 12 hours MLT (from western Canada to Scandinavia), and from one Antarctic radar pair. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Current systems, Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetosphere/ionosphere interactions, Ionosphere, Electric fields, Ionosphere, Plasma convection
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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