The role of dayside merging in generating the ionospheric potential during the Whole Heliospheric Interval

Abstract

In this paper we examine the role of dayside merging between the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and the geomagnetic field in the generation of the polar cap potential in the ionosphere during the Whole Heliospheric Interval using the Coupled Magnetosphere Ionosphere Thermosphere (CMIT) and Lyon–Fedder–Mobarry (LFM) global simulations of the geospace system from the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM). We isolate the portion of the total ionospheric potential due to the viscous interaction by simulating the interval with a zero IMF, but with the same solar wind plasma conditions. For southward IMF, the cross polar cap potential is the sum of the merging potential and the viscous potential, so we can determine the merging potential by subtracting the viscous potential from the total potential. From the dependence of the merging potential on southward IMF we calculate a geoeffective length of 5 RE. For northward IMF the situation is more complicated since the cross polar cap potential, defined as the peak to peak potential, will be almost always either the value of the viscous potential or of the merging potential, whichever is larger. We find that during periods of northward IMF the cross polar cap potential can be less than what the viscous interaction would produce with no IMF present. This means that the viscous interaction is weakened by the cycle of merging and reconnection for northward IMF. Our results also indicate that current representations of merging rates or electric fields are flawed in the manner in which they describe northward IMF. Typical representations simply produce a weak reconnection rate when the IMF is northward that adds to the viscous potential to create a cross polar cap potential that is larger than the viscous potential, whereas the effect of merging for northward IMF reduces the viscous interaction so that the cross polar cap potential for moderate northward IMF values is smaller than the value that would be expected from solar wind plasma conditions of the viscous potential in isolation.