MAPPING OF ISEE-1 AURORAL ELECTRIC-FIELDS TO THE IONOSPHERE AND TO THE EQUATORIAL MAGNETOSPHERE

Citation
A. Malkki et A. Pedersen, MAPPING OF ISEE-1 AURORAL ELECTRIC-FIELDS TO THE IONOSPHERE AND TO THE EQUATORIAL MAGNETOSPHERE, Journal of Geomagnetism and Geoelectricity, 48(5-6), 1996, pp. 897-913
Citations number
27
Categorie Soggetti
Geosciences, Interdisciplinary
ISSN journal
00221392
Volume
48
Issue
5-6
Year of publication
1996
Pages
897 - 913
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-1392(1996)48:5-6<897:MOIAET>2.0.ZU;2-O
Abstract
We analyze two strong electric field events observed on ISEE-1 during quiet and moderately disturbed conditions, at distances of a few Earth radii over the auroral ionosphere. These fields were observed over ti me scales of minutes, and thus have time and spatial scales large comp ared to previously studied strong electric field events. We interpret the data as quasi-stationary potential electric fields, map the fields to the ionospheric level and to the equatorial magnetotail assuming t hat magnetic field lines are equipotentials, using the Tsyganenko (198 9) magnetic field model, and interpret the mapped electric fields as l ocal E x B plasma flows. We show that the electric field data from clo se distances to the Earth can be interpreted as local image of the dis tant -v x B electric field in the magnetotail, and discuss the applica bility of this method.