Dynamical Effects of Ionospheric Conductivity on the Formation of Polar Cap Arcs

Authors

L. Zhu
Jan Josef Sojka, Utah State UniversityFollow
Robert W. Schunk, Utah State UniversityFollow
D. J. Crain, Utah State University

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Radio Science

Volume

33

Issue

6

Publication Date

1998

First Page

1929

Last Page

1937

Abstract

By using a magnetosphere-ionosphere (M-I) coupling model of polar cap arcs [Zhu et al., 1993], a systematic model study of the effects of ionospheric background conductivity on the formation of polar cap arcs has been conducted. The variations of the ionospheric background conductivity in the model study cover typical ionospheric conditions, including solar minimum, solar maximum, winter, and summer. The simulation results clearly indicate that the ionospheric background conductivity can dynamically affect the mesoscale features of polar cap arcs through a nonlinear M-I coupling process associated with the arcs.

Comments

Published by the American Geophysical Union in Radio Science.

Recommended Citation

Zhu, L., J. J. Sojka, R. W. Schunk, and D. J. Grain (1998), Dynamical effects of ionospheric conductivity on the formation of polar cap arcs, Radio Sci., 33(6), 1929–1937, doi:10.1029/98RS01849.