HR: 0800h
AN: SM51A-0358    [Abstracts]
TI: Plasma Transport in Auroral Arcs and Parallel Electric Field Structures
AU: * Kullen, A
EM: Anita.Kullen@irfu.se
AF: IRF Uppsala, P.O.Box 515, Uppsala, 75120 Sweden
AU: Buchert, S
EM: scb@irfu.se
AF: IRF Uppsala, P.O.Box 515, Uppsala, 75120 Sweden
AU: Figueiredo, S
EM: Sonia.Figueiredo@alfvenlab.kth.se
AF: Alfven Laboratory KTH, Teknikringen 31, Stockholm, 10044 Sweden
AU: Marklund, G
EM: Goran.Marklund@alfvenlab.kth.se
AF: Alfven Laboratory KTH, Teknikringen 31, Stockholm, 10044 Sweden
AU: Andre, M
EM: Mats.Andre@irfu.se
AF: IRF Uppsala, P.O.Box 515, Uppsala, 75120 Sweden
AB: We investigate the connection between plasma transport along discrete auroral arcs, parallel electric fields and density gradients with help of Cluster E-field and density measurements. A method developed by Karlsson et al. (2004) is used to separate between spatial and temporal variations in the Cluster multipoint measurements. An analysis of Cluster data for strong E-field events reveals that in most cases the E-field structure is dipolar and appears close to a plasma population boundary. It can be shown that a density gradient perpendicular to a dipolar E-field structure causes a net plasma flow along the auroral arc, causing locally a change in the ionospheric convection. The possible consequences of a local decoupling between ionospheric and magnetospheric plasma convection are discussed.
DE: 2407 Auroral ionosphere (2704)
DE: 2431 Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions (2736)
DE: 2463 Plasma convection
DE: 2704 Auroral phenomena (2407)
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting