On the convection of ionospheric density features

Autor: J. D. de Boer, J.-M. A. Noël, J.-P. St.-Maurice
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Annales Geophysicae, Vol 37, Pp 201-214 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0992-7689
1432-0576
DOI: 10.5194/angeo-37-201-2019
Popis: We investigate whether the boundaries of an ionospheric region of different density than its surroundings will drift relative to the background E×B drift and, if so, how the drift depends on the degree of density enhancement and the altitude. We find analytic solutions for discrete circular features in a 2-D magnetised plasma. The relative drift is proportional to the density difference, which suggests that where density gradients occur they should tend to steepen on one side of a patch while they are weakened on the other. This may have relevance to the morphology of polar ionospheric patches and auroral arcs, since the result is scale-invariant. There is also an altitude dependence which enters through the ion-neutral collision frequency. We discuss how the 2-D analytic result can be applied to the real ionosphere.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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