High Geomagnetic Latitudes Research Articles

Impact Pattern of Energetic Particle Precipitation on Polar Mesospheric Ozone

AbstractThe upper atmosphere of polar regions exhibits two distinct patterns of energetic particle precipitation that can lead to ozone destruction by ionizing the atmosphere: one is the energetic proton precipitation in the polar cap region during solar proton events (SPEs), and the other is the energetic electron precipitations (EEPs) in the auroral oval region from the radiation belt. In this study, we conduct case studies and statistical analyses of ozone observations from the Aura satellite to present the quantitative difference in the impact patterns of SPEs and EEPs on polar mesospheric ozone. According to our statistical analysis of 13 SPEs and 19 EEPs during the MLS time frame, the magnitude of ozone depletion during SPEs is greater than during EEPs. The ozone depletion during SPEs is more pronounced at higher geomagnetic latitudes and negatively correlates with the proton flux, while during EEPs the ozone depletion is more in favor of the geomagnetic latitude band of 60–70° but independent of the electron count rates. In addition, hydroxyl enhancement also exhibits different patterns during SPEs and EEPs, similar to that of ozone depletion. This study further validates the physical link between the magnetosphere and atmosphere and promotes our understanding of the solar influence on Earth's climate.

Ring current electron precipitation during the 17 March 2013 geomagnetic storm: Underlying mechanisms and their effect on the atmosphere

Electron and ion fluxes at energies of ∼10 keV−1 MeV can change by orders of magnitude during geomagnetically active periods. This can lead to intensification of particle precipitation into the Earth's atmosphere. The process further affects atmospheric chemistry, which may impact weather and climate on the Earth’s surface. In this study, we concentrate on ring current electrons, and investigate precipitation mechanisms using a numerical model based on the Fokker-Planck equation. We focus on a study of the main precipitation mechanisms, and their connection with atmospheric parameters. We investigate the 17 March 2013 storm using the convection–diffusion 4-Dimensional Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB-4D) code, that allows us to quantify the impact of the storm on the electron ring current, and the resulting electron precipitation. We validate our results against observations from the Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) mission, the low Earth orbiting meteorological satellites National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA-15,-16,-17,-18,-19), and Meteorological Operational Satellite MetOp-02, as well as the Van Allen Probes, and produce a data set of precipitating fluxes that covers an energy range from 10 keV to 1 MeV. We calculate the altitude-dependent atmospheric ionization rates, a prerequisite for atmospheric models to estimate effects of geomagnetically active periods on chemical and physical variability of the atmosphere at high latitudes. Atmospheric ionization rates are validated against Atmospheric Ionization during Substorm (AIMOS 2.1-Aisstorm) and Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imagers (SSUSI) values, and show good agreement at high geomagnetic latitudes during the storm time.

Extension of the Electron Density Enhancement From Middle to High Latitudes Observed by Swarm‐A in Summer of the Southern Hemisphere

AbstractThe major causal mechanism for the eastward contraction of the electron density (Ne) enhancement associated with the southern Midlatitude Summer Nighttime Anomaly (MSNA) was attributed to the thermospheric neutral wind at the middle geomagnetic latitude in the fixed local time coordinate. In the study, the Ne and horizontal cross‐track ion drifts observed by the Swarm‐A satellite at 462 km altitude show that the horizontal drifts can drive the Ne enhancement of the southern MSNA in the local summer of the Southern Hemisphere. Both the eastward and westward ion drifts transport the enhancement from the middle to the high geomagnetic latitudes, which results in the enhancement evolving at all the longitudes in the whole day.

Hints on the Multiscale Nature of Geomagnetic Field Fluctuations During Quiet and Disturbed Periods

AbstractWe analyze the geomagnetic data recorded at 78 stations from 13 to 31 March 2015. Using the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method, we focus our attention on geomagnetic signal due to sources which are external to the Earth, that is, due to current systems flowing in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. We analyze the short timescale fluctuations (τ < 200 min) of this magnetic signal, their dependence on magnetic latitude, magnetic local time, and geomagnetic activity. At high geomagnetic latitudes (>|60°|), these short timescale fluctuations constitute more than 30% of the external magnetic field. Their maximum contribution occurs along the auroral oval suggesting that they are mainly triggered by the ionospheric electric current systems active in these regions. A discussion of the relevance of these short timescale magnetic fluctuations to result in a more significant modeling and prediction of geomagnetically induced currents in the auroral zones is also provided.

Demagnetizing the drill string magnetic interference in Far North and in Pakistan

Drilling in Barents Sea proves to be a challenging task, as this region is situated in auroral zones having high geomagnetic latitude, where magnetic interferences develop from magnetic field and magnetic materials inside subsurface are quite common. For this region, monitoring of magnetic field is utterly significant as any fluctuations can distort the tool sensor performance with ultimately enlarging the uncertainty in azimuth. To guide a well to its desire location, measurement while drilling (MWD) tool needs to be operated with utmost precision; however, its accuracy compromises as a result of magnetic interferences from drill string and nearby magnetic material. The performance of this tool depends upon its sensors. Any distortion in sensor performance can lead to problems such as multiple sidetracking and increase in overall project cost. Furthermore, the same BHA was also placed in a region of Pakistan and the impact drill string interference was observed. It was discovered that the interferences that had tremendous impact on magnetometer Z-component in Barents Sea had a drastic reduction in the region of Pakistan as it is situated in low latitude, where uncertainty in azimuth is low. In this work, an exemplary bottom-hole assembly (BHA) was analyzed and the impact of individual drill string components interferences was observed on the MWD sensors. It was perceived that the bit was responsible for creating the major distortion in MWD sensor. Apart from that, it was also investigated that the location of the well also plays a vital role in this distortion. This intervention in the sensors is created by a vast difference between the used actual length and the recommended length of nonmagnetic drill collar in the BHA. Numerically, it was investigated that if the physical distance between the sensors and bit is increased, then this interference is reduced. It was also apparent that the Z-component of the magnetometer was utterly distorted because of this interference, while the X- and Y-components were proved to be independent of these interferences. It was further examined that the effects of latitude and longitude play a significant role in the course of changing the impact of these errors on magnetization.

Spectra of the geomagnetic field diurnal variations

Spectral analysis of the geomagnetic field time series with the discreteness of 60 s (Intermagnet data) and a duration of, for example, 1 year (31×10 6 s) yields an average-annual amplitude spectrum over periods from approximately 500 s to 5×10 6 s. The spectrum consists of the continuous part (continuum spectrum) and narrow lines at the diurnal period T 0 =86400 s and its harmonics with periods T = T 0 / n , where n =2—7. The subject of this work is the diurnal line of the spectrum and its harmonics. The average-annual spectra of the geomagnetic field diurnal variations of 32 Intermagnet observatories in North America were calculated. Also the average-seasonal spectra of five observatories, which represent high, medium and low geomagnetic latitudes of both northern and southern hemispheres were obtained. At the near-pole high geomagnetic latitudes, only the daily harmonic T 0 is observed, at the geomagnetic equator 7 harmonics are observed, in the aurora zone and middle latitudes — an intermediate number of harmonics: from two to seven. The amplitude is maximal at high latitudes (50—80 nТ), less at the geomagnetic equator (≈40 nТ), and quite minor at middle latitudes (10—15 nТ). These results are in good agreement with the known data on diurnal variations. The used representation of the harmonics of diurnal period by spectral lines makes it easy and clearly to track the features of diurnal variations and their changes both according to the data of individual observatories and synchronous data of many observatories. An interesting new scientific result is the detected widening of the diurnal harmonic spectral line from September to February and the absence of the widening from March to August for all three considered years 2009—2011 at all five observatories. This is not a seasonal variation, since it is equally observed at observatories in both the northern and southern hemispheres, in which the seasons are in antiphase. We can assume that this phenomenon is associated with a certain orientation of the Earth in outer space relative to some factor that changes the daily spectral line to a wider one. The absolute motion of the Earth, formed by a hierarchy of cosmological rotations, is supposed as such a factor. A brief review of the literature on the determination of the parameters of absolute motion is given.

Solar Wind Streams of Different Types and High-Latitude Substorms

The effects of different large-scale solar wind structures on magnetospheric substorms at high geomagnetic latitudes are studied. Two types of high-latitude substorm disturbances are considered: substorms observed in quiet conditions, when the auroral oval contracts and shifts towards high latitudes (contracted oval substorms, or polar substorms), and those observed in disturbed conditions, when the auroral oval expands (expanded oval substorms, or expanded substorms). Ground-based magnetic observations from the Scandinavian IMAGE network are compared with the OMNI solar wind database and the catalog of large-scale solar wind phenomena ( ftp://ftp.iki.rssi.ru/omni/ ). The study involves the following types of solar wind streams: (1) high-speed streams from coronal holes (FAST); (2) interplanetary manifestations of coronal mass ejections, i.e., magnetic clouds (MCs) or EJECTA; and (3) plasma compression regions ahead of these streams, i.e., corotating interaction regions (CIRs) and SHEATH. The study includes 186 polar and 202 expanded substorms in 1995, 1996, 1999, and 2000. It is shown that ~75% of expanded substorms are observed in FAST streams or plasma compression regions ahead of these streams (CIRs), and only ~18% of such substorms are observed in interplanetary manifestations of coronal mass ejections EJECTA and in SHEATH compression regions. While ~67% of polar substorms are observed in SLOW streams, ~19% of such substorms have been recorded in SHEATH and EJECTA but only against the background of a slow solar wind.

Estimating external magnetic field differences at high geomagnetic latitudes from a single station

ABSTRACTProviding an accurate estimate of the magnetic field on the Earth's surface at a location distant from an observatory has useful scientific and commercial applications, such as in repeat station data reduction, space weather nowcasting or aeromagnetic surveying. While the correlation of measurements between nearby magnetic observatories at low and mid‐latitudes is good, at high geomagnetic latitudes () the external field differences between observatories increase rapidly with distance, even during relatively low magnetic activity. Thus, it is of interest to describe how the differences (or errors) in external magnetic field extrapolation from a single observatory grow with distance from its location. These differences are modulated by local time, seasonal and solar cycle variations, as well as geomagnetic activity, giving a complex temporal and spatial relationship. A straightforward way to describe the differences are via confidence intervals for the extrapolated values with respect to distance. To compute the confidence intervals associated with extrapolation of the external field at varying distances from an observatory, we used 695 station‐years of overlapping minute‐mean data from 37 observatories and variometers at high latitudes from which we removed the main and crustal fields to isolate unmodelled signals. From this data set, the pairwise differences were analysed to quantify the variation during a range of time epochs and separation distances. We estimate the 68.3%, 95.4% and 99.7% confidence levels (equivalent to the 1σ, 2σ and 3σ Gaussian error bounds) from these differences for all components. We find that there is always a small non‐zero bias that we ascribe to instrumentation and local crustal field induction effects. The computed confidence intervals are typically twice as large in the north–south direction compared to the east‐west direction and smaller during the solstice months compared to the equinoxes.

On-orbit operations and offline data processing of CALET onboard the ISS

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), launched for installation on the International Space Station (ISS) in August, 2015, has been accumulating scientific data since October, 2015. CALET is intended to perform long-duration observations of high-energy cosmic rays onboard the ISS. CALET directly measures the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in the energy range of 1 GeV to 20 TeV with a 2% energy resolution above 30 GeV. In addition, the instrument can measure the spectrum of gamma rays well into the TeV range, and the spectra of protons and nuclei up to a PeV.In order to operate the CALET onboard ISS, JAXA Ground Support Equipment (JAXA-GSE) and the Waseda CALET Operations Center (WCOC) have been established at JAXA and Waseda University, respectively. Scientific operations using CALET are planned at WCOC, taking into account orbital variations of geomagnetic rigidity cutoff. Scheduled command sequences are used to control the CALET observation modes on orbit. Calibration data acquisition by, for example, recording pedestal and penetrating particle events, a low-energy electron trigger mode operating at high geomagnetic latitude, a low-energy gamma-ray trigger mode operating at low geomagnetic latitude, and an ultra heavy trigger mode, are scheduled around the ISS orbit while maintaining maximum exposure to high-energy electrons and other high-energy shower events by always having the high-energy trigger mode active. The WCOC also prepares and distributes CALET flight data to collaborators in Italy and the United States.As of August 31, 2017, the total observation time is 689 days with a live time fraction of the total time of ∼ 84%. Nearly 450 million events are collected with a high-energy (E > 10 GeV) trigger. In addition, calibration data acquisition and low-energy trigger modes, as well as an ultra-heavy trigger mode, are consistently scheduled around the ISS orbit. By combining all operation modes with the excellent-quality on-orbit data collected thus far, it is expected that a five-year observation period will provide a wealth of new and interesting results.

High-latitude substorm dependence on space weather conditions in solar cycle 23 and 24 (SC23 and SC24)

The occurrence of the magnetic substorms at high geomagnetic latitudes (>70° CGC) has been visually analyzed using the ground-based IMAGE magnetometer chain and OMNI solar wind and Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) data. We studied the time intervals closely to the minimum and maximum of the 23-th and 24-th solar cycles. The considered high-latitude substorms have been divided into two different types according to their occurrence relatively to the auroral oval dynamics. The first type - the substorms which expand from the auroral geomagnetic latitudes to the polar ones (named the “expanded” substorms, according to an expanded oval dynamics); the second type - the substorms which are observed only at the geomagnetic latitudes higher ∼ 70° CGC under the absence of simultaneous magnetic disturbances at lower latitudes (named the “polar” substorms, according to a polar latitude contracted oval dynamics). Both substorm types are identified at almost identical latitudes, however, with different latitude of their onset locations. It was found that the “polar” substorms show behavior opposite to the “expanded” ones. The “polar” substorms are observed under a low solar wind speed (V < 500 km/s) and the “expanded” substorms - under a high speed (V > 500 km/s). We found, that the PC-index of the polar cap activity, which could be used as a proxy of changes in solar wind electric field, was lower before the “polar” substorms than before the “expanded” ones. The summer maxima in the seasonal occurrence of the “polar” substorms correspond to the minima of the “expanded” substorm. We did not reveal any significant cycle differences in the distributions of the IMF and solar wind parameters before the both types of substorms observed near the maxima and minima of the 23-th and 24-th cycles of the solar activity.

Midlatitude ionospheric D region: Height, sharpness, and solar zenith angle

AbstractVLF radio amplitude and phase measurements are used to find the height and sharpness of the D region of the ionosphere at a mid to high geomagnetic dip latitude of ~52.5°. The two paths used are both from the 23.4 kHz transmitter, DHO, in north Germany with the first path being northward and mainly over the sea along the west coast of Denmark over a range of ~320–425 km, and the second, also mainly all‐sea, to a single fixed recording receiver at Eskdalemuir in Scotland (~750 km). From plots of the measured amplitudes and phases versus distance for the first of these paths compared with calculations using the U.S. Navy code, ModeFinder, the Wait height and sharpness parameters of the D region at midday in summer 2015 are found to be H′ = 72.8 ± 0.2 km and β = 0.345 ± 0.015 km−1 at a solar zenith angle ~33°. From phase and amplitude measurements at other times of day on the second path, the daytime changes in H′ and β as functions of solar zenith angle are determined from shortly after dawn to shortly before dusk. Comparisons are also made between the modal ModeFinder calculations and wave hop calculations, with both giving similar results. The parameters found here should be useful in understanding energy inputs to the D region from the radiation belts, solar flares, or transient luminous events. The midday values may be sufficiently precise to be useful for monitoring climate change.

Contribution of solar radiation and geomagnetic activity to global structure of 27-day variation of ionosphere

Twenty-seven-day variation caused by solar rotation is one of the main periodic effects of solar radiation influence on the ionosphere, and there have been many studies on this periodicity using peak electron density \(\mathrm{N_{m}F_{2}}\) and solar radio flux index F10.7. In this paper, the global electron content (GEC) and observation of Solar EUV Monitor (SEM) represent the whole ionosphere and solar EUV flux, respectively, to investigate the 27-day variation. The 27-day period components of indices \((\hbox {GEC}_{27}\), \(\hbox {SEM}_{27}\), \(\hbox {F10.7}_{27}\), \(\hbox {Ap}_{27})\) are obtained using Chebyshev band-pass filter. The comparison of regression results indicates that the index SEM has higher coherence than F10.7 with 27-day variation of the ionosphere. The regression coefficients of \(\hbox {SEM}_{27 }\) varied from 0.6 to 1.4 and the coefficients of \(\hbox {Ap}_{27}\) varied from \({-}\)0.6 to 0.3, which suggests that EUV radiation seasonal variations are the primary driver for the 27-day variations of the ionosphere for most periods. TEC map grid points on three meridians where IGS stations are dense are selected for regression, and the results show that the contribution of solar EUV radiation is positive at all geomagnetic latitudes and larger than geomagnetic activity in most latitudes. The contribution of geomagnetic activity is negative at high geomagnetic latitude, increasing with decreasing geomagnetic latitudes, and positive at low geomagnetic latitudes. The global structure of 27-day variation of ionosphere is presented and demonstrates that there are two zonal anomaly regions along with the geomagnetic latitudes lines and two peaks in the north of Southeast Asia and the Middle Pacific where \(\hbox {TEC}_{27}\) magnitude values are notably larger than elsewhere along zonal anomaly regions.

Annual, 11-year period and aperiodic variations of the induction vector by eight observatories of Intermagnet network

A large amount of geomagnetic data of Intermagnet network observatories for 1991—2014 years have been processed and time series of induction vector components for every month were obtained. This paper presents the results of processing of eight observatories, located in different parts of the globe. For these observatories graphs of monthly values of induction vector components for four intervals of periods from the range 5—60 minutes are shown. Periodic changes in vector components (from semiannual to 11-years) are detected, as well as trends. After 2007 some increase of annual variations is seen. The most intense variations are at high geomagnetic latitudes and in the equatorial zone; they arc minimal in the middle latitudes. The nature of variations is affected both by global and regional/local factors. Investigation of these periodic changes can give an unique information on the substance and the structural features of the Earth's interior. At Polish observatories long aperiodic variation is obtained after 2008, clarifying the nature of which requires further research.

Production of 3He in rocks by reactions induced by particles of the nuclear-active and muon components of cosmic rays: Geological and petrological implications

The paper presents data on the production of the $^3$He nuclide in rocks under the effect of cosmic-ray particles. The origin of the nuclide in the ground in neutron- and proton-induced spallation reactions, reactions induced by high-energy muons, and negative muon capture reactions is analyzed. The cross sections of reactions producing $^3$He and $^3$H are calculated by means of numerical simulations with the GEANT4 simulation toolkit. The production rate of the $^3$He nuclide in the ground is evaluated for the average level of solar activity at high geomagnetic latitudes and at sea level. It is proved that the production of $^3$He in near-surface ground layers by spallation reactions induced by cosmic-ray protons may be approximately 10% of the total production rate of cosmogenic $^3$He. At depths of 10-50 m.w.e., the accumulation of $^3$He is significantly contributed by reactions induced by cosmic-ray muons. Data presented in the paper make it possible to calculate the accumulation rate of $^3$He in a rock depending on depth that is necessary for the evaluation of the exposure time of the magmatic or metamorphic complex on the Earth's surface ($^3$He dating).

Numerical calculations of cosmic ray cascade in the Earth's atmosphere using different particle interaction models

The interaction of primary cosmic rays with the Earth's atmosphere is investigated using the simulation toolkit GEANT4. Two reference lists of physical processes - QGSP_BIC_HP and FTFP_BERT_HP - are used in the simulations of cosmic ray cascade in the atmosphere. The cosmic ray neutron fluxes are calculated for mean level of solar activity, high geomagnetic latitudes and sea level. The calculated fluxes are compared with the published results of other analogous simulations and with experimental data.

Multiday thermospheric density oscillations associated with variations in solar radiation and geomagnetic activity

AbstractThermospheric densities observed by Challenging Minisatellite Payload and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites during 2002–2010 and the globally averaged thermospheric densities from 1967 to 2007 have been used to investigate latitudinal, longitudinal, and height dependences of the multiday oscillations of thermospheric densities. The data show that the main multiday oscillations in thermospheric densities are 27, 13.5, 9, and 7 day oscillations. The high‐correlation coefficients between the density oscillations and the F10.7 or Ap index indicate that these oscillations are externally driven. The 27 day density oscillation, being the strongest, is induced by variations in solar radiation, as well as recurrent geomagnetic activity that is the result of corotating interaction regions (CIRs) and high‐speed solar wind streams of coronal hole origin. Density oscillations at periods of 13.5, 9, and 7 days at solar minimum and during the declining phase are stronger than those at solar maximum. These oscillations are mainly associated with recurrent geomagnetic activity due to coronal hole high‐speed streams and CIRs. The multiday, periodic oscillations of thermospheric density exhibit strong latitudinal and longitudinal variations in the geomagnetic coordinate and oscillate synchronously at different heights. Oscillations with zonal wave number 0 oscillate globally, whereas those with nonzero wave numbers are strong at high geomagnetic latitudes, and hemispherically asymmetric. They are stronger in the Southern Hemisphere. The spectral distributions of thermospheric densities at different heights have almost the same latitude and longitude structures, but the spectral magnitudes increase with height.

Splash and Re-entrant Albedo Fluxes Measured in the PAMELA Experiment

This work devoted to the description of the method for splash albedo protons identification in the satellite-born experiment PAMELA. In contrast to the reentrant albedo particles, which enter into the main aperture of the instrument, the direct albedo particles enter from the opposite direction, so they pass a few detectors, including calorimeter, before being register by the magnetic spectrometer. The developed method take into account the influence of these detectors on the selection of events and measurements of their characteristics. To test this method the energy spectrum of reentrant albedo protons in various regions of the near-Earth space reconstructed; it is in a good agreement with the classical measurements in the main aperture. Therefore, this method can be useful to obtain a new physical data about fluxes of splash albedo protons in the PAMELA experiment, which, unlike the reentrant albedo, can be study even at high geomagnetic latitudes.

PoGOLino: A scintillator-based balloon-borne neutron detector

PoGOLino is a balloon-borne scintillator-based experiment developed to study the largely unexplored high altitude neutron environment at high geomagnetic latitudes. The instrument comprises two detectors that make use of LiCAF, a novel neutron sensitive scintillator, sandwiched by BGO crystals for background reduction. The experiment was launched on March 20th 2013 from the Esrange Space Centre, Northern Sweden (geomagnetic latitude of 65°), for a three hour flight during which the instrument took data up to an altitude of 30.9km. The detector design and ground calibration results are presented together with the measurement results from the balloon flight.

Improving the Accuracy and Reliability of MWD/Magnetic-Wellbore-Directional Surveying in the Barents Sea

Summary The years ahead will see increased petroleum-related activity in the Barents Sea, with operations far off the coast of Norway. The region is at high geomagnetic latitude in the auroral zone, and therefore, directional drilling by use of magnetic reference will experience enlarged azimuth uncertainty compared with operations in the Norwegian and North Seas. Two main contributors to azimuth uncertainty are magnetic disturbances from electric currents in the ionosphere and axial magnetic interference from the drillstring. The former is more frequent in the Barents Sea than farther south, and the effect of the latter is increased because of diminished value of the magnetic horizontal component. Wellbore directional surveying for operations on the continental shelf in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea rely on well-established procedures for near-real-time magnetic monitoring by use of onshore magnetic-reference stations. The different land and sea configuration, distant offshore oil and gas fields, higher geomagnetic latitude, and different behavior of the magnetic field require the procedures to be reassessed before being applied to the Barents Sea. To reduce drilling delays, procedures must be implemented to enable efficient management of magnetic disturbances. In some areas of the Barents Sea, the management requires new equipment to be developed and tested before drilling, such as seabed magnetometer stations. One simple way to reduce drillstring interference is increasing the amount of nonmagnetic steel in the bottomhole assembly (BHA). To maintain azimuth uncertainty at an acceptable level in northern areas, it is crucial that wellbore-directional-surveying requirements are given high priority and considered early during well planning. During the development phase of an oil and gas field, the planned wells must be assigned adequate positional-uncertainty models and, if possible, be designed in a direction that minimizes the wellbore directional uncertainty.

Comparing the diurnal variations in the SuperMAG auroral electrojet indices SML and SMU

Diurnal variations of the SuperMAG auroral electrojet indices (SML and SMU) were examined for the period of 1980–2010, and the differences between SML and SMU were especially analyzed. The diurnal variation of SML with a maximum at around 1100 UT has a prenoon-postnoon asymmetry. At solstices, the diurnal variation of SML is much stronger than that at equinoxes. For the SMU, two maxima are recorded in the diurnal variation with the bigger one at 1700 UT and the smaller one at 0400 UT. The seasonal variations are not obvious in the UT variation characteristics of SMU although the intensity of SMU is changed remarkably season by season. For both SML and SMU, the contributing stations are located at higher geomagnetic latitude around 1600 UT and at lower geomagnetic latitude around 0400 UT. These results indicate that: (1) the SML is mostly controlled by the convection electric field. Its diurnal variation is mainly correlated with the equinoctial and R-M hypothesis; (2) the SMU is largely controlled by the ionospheric conductance. Its diurnal variation is tightly correlated with the solar radiation.