Identification

Title

Why doesn't the observed field‐aligned current saturate with increasing interplanetary electric field?

Abstract

Theoretical studies indicate that electric potential saturation in a polar cap ionosphere is regulated by the limited reconnection rate at the magnetopause associated with field‐aligned currents (FACs), predicting the possible saturation of FACs under large interplanetary electric field (IEF). However, recent statistical studies have shown that observed FACs increase linearly with IEF. To reconcile this disparity, numerical experiments are conducted to explore the response of FACs under large IEF. Results show that FACs may exhibit either linear or saturated responses, depending on the Alfvén Mach number. The magnetospheric closure paths of region 1 currents differ significantly between the linear and saturated conditions. In the linear case, essential parts of the region 1 current extend toward dayside and connect to the magnetopause currents, whereas these parts of currents almost disappear in the saturation state. Saturation usually occurs under sub‐Alfvénic solar wind conditions, so the observed FACs generally grow linearly with IEF.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7n30271

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2024-11-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact