Effect of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field Y Component on the High‐latitude Nightside Convection

Authors

O. de la Beaujardiere
Vincent B. Wickwar, Utah State UniversityFollow
J D. Kelly
J H. King

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

12

Issue

7

Publication Date

1985

First Page

461

Last Page

464

Abstract

Sondrestrom radar observations reveal that the dawn‐dusk (B_y) component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strongly influences the nightside polar convection. This effect is quite complex. The convection for one orientation of B_y is not the mirror image of the other orientation. A positive B_y (i.e., pointing toward dusk) seems to organize the velocities such that, at all local times, they are predominantly westward within the radar field‐of‐view (≃68°‐to‐82° invariant latitude). Between dusk and midnight, on one such occasion, sunward flow is observed within the polar cap. In the midnight and dawn sectors, when B_y is negative, the plasma velocities often appear random. For large negative B_y, the afternoon cell appears shifted toward early hours such that large southward velocities are observed about 3 hours before midnight. These are the only times when the predominant velocity component is southward.

Comments

Published by American Geophysical Union in Geophysical Research Letters. Publisher PDF available for download through link above.

Recommended Citation

de la Beaujardière, O., V. B. Wickwar, J. D. Kelly, and J. H. King (1985), Effect of the interplanetary magnetic field Y component on the high‐latitude nightside convection, Geophys. Res. Lett., 12(7), 461–464, doi:10.1029/GL012i007p00461.