Abstract
Abstract. Cross-track ion drifts measured by the DMSP satellites are compared with line-of-sight SuperDARN HF velocities in approximately the same directions. Good overall agreement is found for a data set comprising of 209 satellite passes over the field of view of nine SuperDARN radars in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The slope of the best linear fit line relating the SuperDARN and DMSP velocities is of the order of 0.7 with a tendency for SuperDARN velocities to be smaller. The agreement implies that the satellite and radar data can be merged into a common set provided that spatial and temporal variations of the velocity as measured by both instruments are smooth. Keywords. Ionosphere (Ionospheric irregularities; Plasma convection; Auroral ionosphere)
Highlights
Observations of ionospheric plasma convection at high latitudes is important for understanding various processes occurring in the Earth’s magnetosphere-ionosphere system
For the DMSP data, we considered 4-s averaged crosstrack ion drift component values measured by the ion drift meter (IDM) onboard the satellite
The SuperDARN/DMSP velocity comparison presented in this study shows, on a statistical basis, that in spite of different methods of plasma flow measurements, in space and from the ground, the velocities are fairly consistent in a broad sense
Summary
Observations of ionospheric plasma convection at high latitudes is important for understanding various processes occurring in the Earth’s magnetosphere-ionosphere system. Local convection measurements with incoherent scatter radars (ISRs) and more extended observations with drift meters onboard polar-orbiting satellites have been successfully complemented by global-scale observations with the coherent SuperDARN HF radars Merging data from these instruments into a single set allows one to create a more reliable high-latitude convection pattern than could be produced by any individual data set. Recent comparisons of joint SuperDARN and ISR convection observations (Milan et al, 1999; Davies et al, 1999, 2000; Xu et al, 2001; Danskin, 2003) showed overall consistency but with noticeable data spread; for some events, almost perfect agreement was reported (Davies et al, 1999; Danskin, 2003) while for others significant differences were obvious (Xu et al, 2001; Danskin, 2003). These findings are in agreement with earlier ISR-HF radar comparisons by Villain et al (1985) and Ruohoniemi et al (1987)
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