HR: 14:00h
AN: SM52D-02 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: Is a New Lexicon for Field-Aligned Current Systems Needed?
AU: * Siscoe, G
EM: siscoe@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215 United States
AB: In general it is bad to rename something that has a name in general use whose meaning is unambiguous enough to enable efficient communication. For instance, region 1 currents mean high-latitude currents that flow into the dawnside ionosphere and out the duskside; region 2 currents mean currents that flow oppositely at lower latitudes. Oppositely flowing currents at higher latitude are called NBZ currents. These highly serviceable names should be retained as long as the meaning intended does not go beyond the one defined or differs from it. The problem, however, is that these names as defined fail to cover the range of meanings needed to communicate results of recent research. The full range of current morphologies revealed by data and physics-based modeling includes the standard morphologies as part of more integrated patterns that have no labels at present. Moreover, how do we refer to the global current system whose ionospheric part we label region 1, etc.? The goal of this talk is to expose the problem of nomenclature that field-aligned currents present, point to analogous problems in other fields, and offer options to address them.
DE: 2708 Current systems (2409)
DE: 2799 General or miscellaneous
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting