DE-2 observations of filamentary currents at ionospheric altitudes

Smith, M. F., Winningham, J. D., Slavin, J. A. and Lockwood, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7397-2172 (1990) DE-2 observations of filamentary currents at ionospheric altitudes. In: Physics of Magnetic Flux Ropes. Amarican Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., USA, pp. 591-598. doi: 10.1029/GM058p0591 (edited by: C.T. Russell, E.R. Priest and L.C. Lee, Geophys. Monograph Ser. 58)

Abstract/Summary

Conjunctive measurements made by the Dynamics Explorer 1 and 2 spacecraft on October 22, 1981, under conditions of southward IMF, suggest the existence of a cusp ion injection from a region at the magnetopause with a scale size of ∼ 1/2 to 1 R E . Current signatures observed by the LAPI and MAGB instruments on board DE-2 indicate the existence of a rotation in the magnetic field that is consistent with a filamentary current system. The observed current structure can be interpreted as the ionospheric signature of a flux transfer event (FTE). In addition to this large-scale current structure there exist three small-scale filamentary current pairs. These current pairs close locally and thus, if our interpretation of this event as an FTE is correct, represent the first reported observations of FTE interior structure at low-altitudes.

Item Type	Book or Report Section
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/38853
Item Type	Book or Report Section
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	Amarican Geophysical Union
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