Identification of Vortex Currents in the Ionosphere and Estimation of Their Parameters Based on Ground Magnetic Data

Abstract

A system to process data from a 2D network of magnetic stations is proposed for the identification of eddy currents in the ionosphere and the estimation of their parameters. The methodology is applied to an analysis of the structure of daytime traveling convection vortices (TCVs) based on data from Arctic. The problem is solved with optimization methods for various functions obtained via spatial interpolation and subsequent data regularization. The developed approach makes it possible not only to find eddy structures automatically but also to determine the current values of their characteristic parameters: the spatial structure of the field aligned currents (FACs), and the group velocity of the horizontal propagation of the vortex along the ionosphere.