Open AccessAn investigation of the causes of abnormal quiet days in Sq ( H )
Author(s) -
Butcher E. C.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1982.tb04937.x
Subject(s) - quiet , substorm , meridian (astronomy) , geodesy , amplitude , geology , geophysics , seismology , physics , magnetic field , astronomy , optics , magnetosphere , quantum mechanics
Summary. From a study of ‘abnormal quiet days’ (AQDs) along the 0° meridian between 14 and 60° N, it was found (Butcher & Brown) that the minimum in H at stations on the poleward side of the Sq ( H ) focus was formed by a small negative substorm event when the normal Sq ( H ) amplitude was reduced by a superposed northward field. In this paper we consider both the AQD event and the superposed northward field as a function of longitude and also consider in more detail the latitude variation of the superposed northward field. From such a study it is concluded that: (1) the AQD event is definitely due to a small magnetospheric substorm event; (2) the superposed northward field varies smoothly with longitude falling to zero some 110° from the longitude of its maximum amplitude; (3) the superposed northward field has a variation with geomagnetic latitude tending to zero near 20° and 70°N with a maximum near 55° N in summer and 35° N in winter; (4) there is some evidence that the effect of the IMF penetrates into the mid‐latitude E‐region and its effect is latitude‐dependent. Although the evidence supports the suggestion that the currents responsible for the superposed northward field flow in the E‐region no suggestion as to the origin of the driving force of the currents is forthcoming.