Publication Date:
2019-06-28
Description:
Recent observations suggest that the Hall current tends to be highly divergence-free in the westward traveling surge. It is shown in a model calculation that the blockage of the Hall current from closure along field lines leads to a significant reduction of the divergence of the Hall current, but is not divergence-free. The westward electrojet in this models is found to rotate counterclock wise around the leading edge of the surge and merge into the eastward electrojet. The difference in strength between the two electrojets at the head of the surge goes into the upward field-aligned current. It is also shown that the conductivity enhanced by the discrete auroral precipitation does not contribute to the divergence of the Hall current, provided that the electric fields are coplanar along a field line. The above results strongly suggest that the Hall current tends to be highly divergence-free in regions of bright auroral forms, especially in the westward traveling surge.
Keywords:
GEOPHYSICS
Type:
Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227); 90; 4403-440
Format:
text
Permalink
