HR: 14:10h
AN: GP23B-03 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Ionospheric Electric Durrents and Their Geomagnetic Effects
AU: * Richmond, A D
EM: richmond@ucar.edu
AF: NCAR High Altitude Observatory, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 United States
AU: Maute, A
EM: maute@ucar.edu
AF: NCAR High Altitude Observatory, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 United States
AU: Lu, G
EM: ganglu@ucar.edu
AF: NCAR High Altitude Observatory, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 United States
AB: Large-scale ionospheric electric currents are driven by upper-atmospheric winds, by magnetospheric processes, and, to a lesser extent, by gravitational and pressure-gradient forces on the ionospheric plasma. Observations of the magnetic effects of these currents, when interpreted with the aid of models, provide information about ionospheric electric fields, thermospheric winds, and magnetospheric processes. The models can also help to identify and quantify the magnetic effects of these currents to aid in their separation from other sources of the geomagnetic field. We survey the properties of ionospheric currents and their modeling, compare modeled geomagnetic effects with observations on the ground and at low Earth orbit, and discuss the implications of the comparisons.
DE: 1555 Time variations: diurnal to decadal
DE: 2409 Current systems (2721)
DE: 2411 Electric fields (2712)
DE: 2431 Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions (2736)
DE: 3369 Thermospheric dynamics (0358)
SC: Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism [GP]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005