Double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs)

Fei He; Xiao Xin Zhang; Wenbin Wang; Bo Chen

doi:10.1002/2016GL069133

Double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs)

Fei He, Xiao Xin Zhang, Wenbin Wang, Bo Chen

Geospace Frontiers

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper reports double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs), which is unique subset of subauroral ion drifts (SAIDs). A statistical analysis has been carried out for the first time with a database of 454 DSAID events identified from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program observations from 1987 to 2012. Both case studies and statistical analyses show that the two velocity peaks of DSAIDs are associated with two ion temperature peaks and two region-2 field-aligned currents (R2-FACs) peaks in the midlatitude ionospheric trough located in the low-conductance subauroral region. DSAIDs are regional and vary significantly with magnetic local time. DSAIDs can evolve from/to SAIDs during their lifetimes, which are from several minutes to tens of minutes. Comparisons between the ionospheric parameters of DSAIDs and SAIDs indicate that double-layer region-2 field-aligned currents (R2-FACs) may be the main driver of DSAIDs. It is also found that DSAIDs happen during more disturbed conditions compared with SAIDs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	5554-5562
Number of pages	9
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	43
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069133
State	Published - Jun 16 2016

Keywords

double peak
field-aligned currents
midlatitude ionospheric trough
subauroral ion drifts

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10.1002/2016GL069133

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title = "Double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs)",

abstract = "This paper reports double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs), which is unique subset of subauroral ion drifts (SAIDs). A statistical analysis has been carried out for the first time with a database of 454 DSAID events identified from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program observations from 1987 to 2012. Both case studies and statistical analyses show that the two velocity peaks of DSAIDs are associated with two ion temperature peaks and two region-2 field-aligned currents (R2-FACs) peaks in the midlatitude ionospheric trough located in the low-conductance subauroral region. DSAIDs are regional and vary significantly with magnetic local time. DSAIDs can evolve from/to SAIDs during their lifetimes, which are from several minutes to tens of minutes. Comparisons between the ionospheric parameters of DSAIDs and SAIDs indicate that double-layer region-2 field-aligned currents (R2-FACs) may be the main driver of DSAIDs. It is also found that DSAIDs happen during more disturbed conditions compared with SAIDs.",

keywords = "double peak, field-aligned currents, midlatitude ionospheric trough, subauroral ion drifts",

author = "Fei He and Zhang, \{Xiao Xin\} and Wenbin Wang and Bo Chen",

year = "2016",

month = jun,

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doi = "10.1002/2016GL069133",

language = "English",

volume = "43",

pages = "5554--5562",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Inc.",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs)

AU - He, Fei

AU - Zhang, Xiao Xin

AU - Wang, Wenbin

AU - Chen, Bo

PY - 2016/6/16

Y1 - 2016/6/16

N2 - This paper reports double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs), which is unique subset of subauroral ion drifts (SAIDs). A statistical analysis has been carried out for the first time with a database of 454 DSAID events identified from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program observations from 1987 to 2012. Both case studies and statistical analyses show that the two velocity peaks of DSAIDs are associated with two ion temperature peaks and two region-2 field-aligned currents (R2-FACs) peaks in the midlatitude ionospheric trough located in the low-conductance subauroral region. DSAIDs are regional and vary significantly with magnetic local time. DSAIDs can evolve from/to SAIDs during their lifetimes, which are from several minutes to tens of minutes. Comparisons between the ionospheric parameters of DSAIDs and SAIDs indicate that double-layer region-2 field-aligned currents (R2-FACs) may be the main driver of DSAIDs. It is also found that DSAIDs happen during more disturbed conditions compared with SAIDs.

AB - This paper reports double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs), which is unique subset of subauroral ion drifts (SAIDs). A statistical analysis has been carried out for the first time with a database of 454 DSAID events identified from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program observations from 1987 to 2012. Both case studies and statistical analyses show that the two velocity peaks of DSAIDs are associated with two ion temperature peaks and two region-2 field-aligned currents (R2-FACs) peaks in the midlatitude ionospheric trough located in the low-conductance subauroral region. DSAIDs are regional and vary significantly with magnetic local time. DSAIDs can evolve from/to SAIDs during their lifetimes, which are from several minutes to tens of minutes. Comparisons between the ionospheric parameters of DSAIDs and SAIDs indicate that double-layer region-2 field-aligned currents (R2-FACs) may be the main driver of DSAIDs. It is also found that DSAIDs happen during more disturbed conditions compared with SAIDs.

KW - double peak

KW - field-aligned currents

KW - midlatitude ionospheric trough

KW - subauroral ion drifts

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84973149453

U2 - 10.1002/2016GL069133

DO - 10.1002/2016GL069133

M3 - Letter

AN - SCOPUS:84973149453

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 43

SP - 5554

EP - 5562

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 11

ER -

Double-peak subauroral ion drifts (DSAIDs)

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Keywords

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