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Transverse and parallel geomagnetic perturbations over the polar regions observed by MAGSAT
Author(s) -
Iijima Takesi,
Fukushima Naoshi,
Fujii Ryoichi
Publication year - 1982
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/gl009i004p00369
Subject(s) - earth's magnetic field , ionosphere , geophysics , polar , geodesy , ionospheric dynamo region , physics , electric field , latitude , transverse plane , geology , magnetic field , computational physics , geomagnetic storm , astronomy , structural engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering
MAGSAT data revealed the following characteristics of geomagnetic perturbations at high latitudes: Parallel (ΔB ∥ ) and transverse (ΔB ⊥ → , especially geomagnetic east‐west component) magnetic perturbations represent respectively scalar potential field (due primarily to electric currents within the ionosphere) and vector potential field (attributable to field‐aligned currents and associated ionospheric currents). The spatial gradient of ΔB ∥ is shown to be very useful to infer the ionospheric current distribution. The ratio of ΔB ∥ and ΔB ⊥ depends on the height of satellite measurement and also on the electric conductivity of the ionosphere.