Interplanetary magnetic field By and auroral conductance effects on high‐latitude ionospheric convection patterns

Abstract

The dependence of the ionospheric electric potential (convection) on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and the ionospheric conductivity is investigated to understand the generation of convection patterns in the framework of the solar wind‐magnetosphere‐ionosphere (S‐M‐I) coupling scheme and the merging concept. A numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation is adopted for the study of the present problem. To achieve a high resolution in the ionosphere, the MHD calculation employs the finite volume (FV) total‐variation diminishing (TVD) scheme with an unstructured grid system. The two‐cell convection patterns reproduced from simulation are shown for several cases under the southward IMF condition during the growth‐phase interval. In the investigation of these results, special attention is paid to the analysis of mirror symmetry in the convection patterns with respect to the IMF By. On the dayside in the Northern Hemisphere, IMF By− (By+) generates flow deflection on newly opened field lines toward the dusk (dawn) without a severe violation of the mirror symmetry. While the mirror symmetry of the convection pattern is maintained even on the nightside when the ionospheric conductivity is uniform, it is not maintained on the nightside when the ionospheric conductivity is nonuniform. A realistic ionospheric conductivity modifies the convection pattern in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere so as to emphasize distinctive features seen for IMF By+ (By−) under a uniform conductivity, and the reproduced convection patterns coincide with the observation quite well including fine signatures on the nightside, both for IMF By− and By+. Because of the nonuniform conductivity, cell centers of convection are shifted to the earlier magnetic local times, and the antisunward flow in the northern polar cap is nearly aligned with noon‐midnight meridian for IMF By−, while the flow in the northern polar cap has a significant inclination from prenoon to premidnight for IMF By+. These convection patterns can be understood by considering the effect due to the Hall current closure of the region‐1 field‐aligned current. The analysis for the dependence of nightside convection on IMF By and ionospheric conductivity shows that the Harang discontinuity is attributed partially to the structure of magnetospheric driver but mainly to the effect of nonuniform auroral conductivity. As a consequence, it is more adequate to say that convection patterns are more or less caused by the synthesized effect of more than one process rather than a single elementary process. Reproduced convection patterns in this paper show a particular coincidence with satellite observations summarized by adopting the pattern‐recognition‐based approach.