z-logo
Premium
Field aligned currents in the high latitude, high altitude magnetosphere: POLAR initial results
Author(s) -
Russell C. T.,
Zhou X.W.,
Le Guan,
Reiff P. H.,
Luhmann J. G.,
Cattell C. A.,
Kawano H.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/97gl01493
Subject(s) - polar , magnetosphere , latitude , northern hemisphere , physics , noon , altitude (triangle) , geophysics , field line , geology , atmospheric sciences , magnetic field , geodesy , astronomy , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Magnetic field measurements obtained by the POLAR spacecraft are used to map out the region 1 and region 2 field‐aligned current systems in the dayside hemisphere at radial distances of close to 8 Earth radii above the northern polar cap. The extrapolated invariant latitude of these currents is quite variable. The equatorward edge of the region 1 system ranges from 73 to 83° degrees invariant latitude. The sense of both systems reverses across noon as expected. The strength of the currents also varies, averaging about 0.03 A/m for the region 1 currents and 0.01 A/m for the region 2 currents. Over the dayside hemisphere this amounts to about 1.5 million amps flowing down and up the field lines in the region 1 system and about 0.5 million amps in the region 2 system. These numbers and the behavior of the current are quite consistent with low‐altitude observations.

This content is not available in your region!

Continue researching here.

Having issues? You can contact us here