Open AccessIonospheric Conductivity and Sq Variations
Author(s) -
Price A. T.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1968.tb05749.x
Subject(s) - dynamo , current (fluid) , electromotive force , ionosphere , dynamo theory , physics , current density , work (physics) , simple (philosophy) , geophysics , mechanics , function (biology) , conductivity , classical mechanics , computational physics , magnetic field , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , philosophy , epistemology , evolutionary biology , biology
Summary The applicability of the layer conductivities in the two‐dimensional treatment of the dynamo theory of Sq is examined. Calculations with a simple three‐dimensional model suggest that the currents arising from wind‐induced electromotive forces are nearly horizontal throughout the dynamo layer, so that the two‐dimensional equations involving the layer conductivities can be used. However, the assumption, almost universally made in theoretical discussions about Sq , that the horizontal current density is non‐divergent and that consequently a current function can be found, is shown to be quite untrue. Hence a major revision of much theoretical work on Sq appears necessary.