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
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.