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Huba et al. 2003
Huba, J.D., Joyce, G. and Fedder, J.A. (2003). Simulation study of mid-latitude ionosphere fluctuations observed at Millstone Hill. Geophysical Research Letters 30: doi: 10.1029/2003GL018018. issn: 0094-8276.

Quasi-periodic variations in ionospheric F-region parameters associated with interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations have been reported by Huang et al. <2002>. Two mechanisms that could generate these ionospheric fluctuations are a time-varying electric field or neutral wind. We present simulation results of the response of the mid-latitude F-region ionosphere to these drivers using the NRL ionosphere model SAMI2. We obtain good agreement with Millstone Hill density and velocity observations for a zonal F-region electric field E ≃ ¿2.4 mV/m. We also obtain good agreement with density observations if the neutral wind fluctuates ~¿40 m/s along the geomagnetic field. However, this neutral wind variation corresponds to ~¿140 m/s in the meridional component of the horizontal neutral wind, and the fluctuating ion velocity is ~30% larger than those observed. This suggests that a fluctuating penetration electric field is probably responsible for the Millstone Hill observations.

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Abstract

Keywords
Ionosphere, Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions, Ionosphere, Ionospheric dynamics, Ionosphere, Midlatitude ionosphere, Ionosphere, Modeling and forecasting
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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