Ionospheric current contribution to the main impulse of a negative sudden impulse

Abstract

The geomagnetic field response to a moderate-amplitude negative sudden impulse (SI−) that occurred on 14 May 2009 at 10:30 UT was examined at 97 geomagnetic observatories situated all over the globe. The response signature contains a contribution from magnetospheric as well as ionospheric currents. The main impulse (MI) is defined as the maximum depression in the observed geomagnetic field. It is observed that for low-to-high latitudes, the amplitude of the MI is larger in the afternoon to post-dusk sector than in the dawn-noon sector, indicating asymmetry in the MI amplitude. We estimated the contribution at various observatories due to the Chapman-Ferraro magnetopause currents using the Tsyganenko model (T01) and subtracted this from the observed MI amplitude to obtain the contribution due to ionospheric currents. It is found that the ionospheric currents contribute significantly to the MI amplitude of moderate SI− even at low-to-mid latitudes and that the contribution is in the same direction as that from the magnetopause currents near dusk and in the opposite direction near dawn. The equivalent current vectors reveal a clockwise (anticlockwise) ionospheric current loop in the afternoon (morning) sector during the MI of the negative pressure impulse. This evidences an ionospheric twin-cell-vortex current system (DP2) due to field-aligned currents (FACs) associated with the dusk-to-dawn convection electric field during the MI of an SI−. We also estimated the magnetic field variation due to prompt penetration electric fields, which is found to be very small at low latitudes in the present case. The studied SI− is not associated with shock, and hence no preliminary reverse impulse was evident. In addition, the summer hemisphere reveals larger MI amplitudes than the winter hemisphere, indicating once again the role of ionospheric currents.