Publication Date:
2004-12-03
Description:
Observations of ionospheric convection flows at a range of local times during the various phases of the substorm cycle are reported on with the aim of investigating the convection behavior during a range of times and phases. The ionospheric flow observations are from the EISCAT and DMSP satellites. The substorm phases are identified from energetic particle measurements from geosynchronous satellites. The growth phase convection indicates an initial expansion of the polar cap. There is an unexplained poleward motion of the flow reversal boundary (FRB). It is concluded that this motion does not necessarily provide a true representation of the balance between reconnection at the dayside and in the tail. The expansion phase flows do not show any evidence for tail reconnection until late in the phase. The convection during the recovery phase is indicative of tail reconnection as there is evidence that there is only a lobe cell driving convection on the dayside.
Keywords:
Geophysics
Type:
; 103-108
Format:
text
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