Dayside cleft aurora and its ionospheric effects

Abstract

The existence of an opening on the dayside of the earth's magnetic field through which solar plasma could penetrate was noted by Chapman and Ferraro in 1931, and although observational evidence of its auroral and ionospheric effects accumulated steadily over the years, the dayside cleft (or cusp) was not accepted as a real magnetospheric feature until 1971. The history of this development is described, and some reasons for the long delay in recognizing this profound ionospheric influence are given. The entry of magnetosheath plasma to ionospheric levels provides an essentially permanent dayside energy source for the F region that generates a rather constant 1–2 kR of 6300‐Å atomic oxygen emission, a weak hydrogen emission, and some other emissions. It also produces ionospheric irregularities and enhanced electron temperatures that can be detected by a variety of methods, all of this in a region normally centered at noon and 78° in invariant coordinates, with a latitude extent of a few degrees and a longitude extent of a few hours. The cleft ionization is an important source for the polar cap ionosphere, and the detailed nature of its effect depends upon the interplanetary field and on magnetospheric influences on the polar cap convection pattern. Some questions for further study are given in conclusion.