On the Momentum Transfer From Polar to Equatorial Ionosphere

Abstract

AbstractDuring space weather events, a large amount of energy and momentum from the solar wind inputs into the ionosphere‐thermosphere. A critical question is that if the solar wind‐magnetosphere interaction drives only the open field region in the polar caps, how the solar wind energy and momentum are transmitted to the low latitude and equatorial ionosphere. This important issue has been studied over decades and is still poorly understood, impeding space weather forecasting ability. Here we use our newly developed 2.5‐D ionosphere‐thermosphere simulation model that self‐consistently solves the density, velocity, and temperature for electrons, multiple ion and neutral species, and electromagnetic fields to study this challenging problem. The focus of the present study is on the prompt response of the ionosphere to a convection disturbance from the polar magnetosphere. The longer time scale responses caused by the neutral winds from the polar caps will be the topic of future studies. We show that the momentum is transferred from polar to equatorial ionosphere predominately by fast magnetosonic waves, and propagation of perturbations from the source region experiences delay, damping, and substantial reflection, and the ionosphere/thermosphere behaves like a low‐band‐pass filter. The finding from this study sheds new insight onto coupling processes within the magnetosphere‐ionosphere system.