Electric fields and potential patterns in the high-latitude ionosphere for different situations in interplanetary space

Abstract

The potential ϑ of the electric field at high latitudes has been obtained by solving numerically the second order differential equation in spherical coordinates: − 1 2 (rσ Hϕ θ) θ+ 1 r (σ Hϑλ) λ + 1 r (σ Pϑ λ) θ−(σ Pϑ θ) λ = 1 r (rψ θ) θ+ 1 r 2 ψ λλ , where θ is colatitude, λ is longitude, σ H and σ P are the height-integrated Hall and Perdersen ionospheric conductivities, r = sin θ, and ψ is the current function. The boundary condition is ϑ = 0 on the geomagnetic parallel θ = 34°. Values of ψ are determined from geomagnetic field variations at the Earth's surface from geomagnetic field variations at the Earth's surface for various conditions in interplanetary space. σ P and σ H are taken to vary with season, local time, tilt of the geomagnetic dipole axis (UT), and intensity of corpuscular precipitation (the model proposed by Wallis and Budzinski, 1981). The model distributions of ϑ M and E M = -▽ ϑ m so obtained are compared with observational results. The feasibility has been demonstrated of interpreting the statistical results and individual measurement data in terms of a unified dynamic model of ionospheric electric fields. The model makes allowance for the changes of electromagnetic “weather” in interplanetary space.