Global force balance of region 1 current system

Abstract

At times of strong solar wind forcing such as those that produce major magnetic storms, the region 1 current system dominates over the Chapman–Ferraro current system in mediating the transfer of force between the solar wind and the terrestrial system. The global force balance can be broken into two components, one involving the high-altitude part of the region 1 current system that is in contact with the solar wind (labeled here the HRS) and the other involving the low-altitude part of the region 1 current system that lies in the ionosphere (the LRS). Both communicate their J× B force to the geomagnetic dipole via a gradient in the magnetic field that they generate. In the HRS case the force acts to push the dipole away from the sun. This is the region 1 analog of the Chapman–Ferraro mechanism for transmitting the solar wind's force to the Earth. However, in the LRS case, the force (which is much stronger than in the HRS case) acts to push the dipole toward the sun, seemingly paradoxically. The LRS balances the ‘paradoxical’ sunward force on the dipole with an opposite force on the atmosphere. This paper uses MHD simulations to demonstrate the presence of both the normal force-transmitting gradient generated by the Chapman–Ferraro and the counter-Chapman–Ferraro gradient in the magnetic field generated by the region 1 current system.