ANALYTICAL MODELING OF THE ELECTRIC-FIELD DISTRIBUTION IN THE HIGH-LATITUDE IONOSPHERE

An analytical approach is implemented for self-consistent modelling of the high-latitude convection electric field. Input parameters are det ermined as distributions of field-aligned currents and height-integrat ed conductivity. The high-latitude ionosphere is approximated with an arbitrary number (N) of concentric rings. The height-integrated conduc tivity (SIGMA) is independent of co-latitude within any ring, but depe nds on the longitude approximately sin lambda. The field-aligned curre nts flow only along the boundaries of each ring and are presented by F ourier series in longitude. The analytical solution for the potential PHI as a function of longitude is also presented as a Fourier series. An analytical solution is obtained for the potential dependencies on c o-latitude. For the extreme case, when the integrated conductivity doe s not depend on longitude, this solution coincides with the analytical results, obtained by other authors. Based on this solution, the poten tial distribution in the high-latitude ionosphere, an example with N = 5 is shown, the values of conductivity and field-aligned currents bei ng similar to those values used by other authors.