Response of the ionospheric convection pattern to a rotation of the interplanetary magnetic field on January 14, 1988

Abstract

Ionospheric convection signatures observed over the polar regions are provided by the DMSP F8 satellite. We consider five passes over the southern summer hemisphere during a time when the z component of the interplanetary magnetic field was stable and positive and the y component changed slowly from positive to negative. Large‐scale regions of sunward flow are observed at very high latitudes consistent with a strong z component. When By and Bz are positive, but By is greater than Bz, strong evidence exists for dayside merging in a manner similar to that expected when Bz is negative. This signature is diminished as By decreases and becomes smaller than Bz resulting in a four‐cell convection pattern displaced toward the sunward side of the dawn‐dusk meridian. In this case the sign of By affects the relative sizes of the two highest‐latitude cells. In the southern hemisphere the duskside high‐latitude cell is dominant for By positive and the dawnside high‐latitude cell is dominant for By negative. The relative importance of possible electric field sources in the low‐latitude boundary layer, the dayside cusp, and the lobe all need to be considered to adequately explain the observed evolution of the convection pattern.