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Variations in the near-surface atmospheric electric field at high latitudes and ionospheric potential during geomagnetic perturbations

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Abstract

We have analyzed variations in the near-surface atmospheric electric field (Ez) normalized to their daily averages that were simultaneously observed in different high-latitude regions at moderate geomagnetic activity (Kp ∼ 3). The Ez data were measured under fair weather conditions at the Vostok Antarctic research station (Φ′ = −83.5°) in the southern polar cap and at the Hornsund Arctic observatory (Φ′ = 74.0°) on Svalbard close to the polar boundary of the auroral oval in the Northern Hemisphere. It is established that variations in the atmospheric electric field in the polar cap region at the Vostok station are controlled (the correlation coefficient R ∼ 0.7–0.9) by variations in the overhead ionospheric potential. The situation at the Hornsund observatory is more complicated. During intervals when Hornsund occurred below the westward electrojet, the correlation was typically positive with R ∼ 0.60–0.85; however, while this observatory was in the region of the eastern electrojet, the correlation could be negative with R ∼ 0.7–0.8. Normally, during such periods, the westward electrojet was detected polarwards of Hornsund while, according to the SuperDARN radar data, the observatory was located below the negative vortex of the polar ionospheric convection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, ul. Beringa 38, St. Petersburg, 199397, Russia

    A. V. Frank-Kamenetskii & A. A. Kruglov

  2. Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radiowave Propagation, St. Petersburg Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2 Muchnoi per., St. Petersburg, 191023, Russia

    A. L. Kotikov

  3. Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Australia

    G. B. Burns

  4. Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Bol’shaya Gruzinskaya 10, Moscow, 123995, Russia

    N. G. Kleimenova & O. V. Kozyreva

  5. Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    M. Kubitski & A. Odzimek

Authors
  1. A. V. Frank-Kamenetskii
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  2. A. L. Kotikov
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  3. A. A. Kruglov
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  4. G. B. Burns
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  5. N. G. Kleimenova
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  6. O. V. Kozyreva
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  7. M. Kubitski
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  8. A. Odzimek
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Correspondence to A. V. Frank-Kamenetskii.

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Original Russian Text © A.V. Frank-Kamenetskii, A.L. Kotikov, A.A. Kruglov, G.B. Burns, N.G. Kleimenova, O.V. Kozyreva, M. Kubitski, A. Odzimek, 2012, published in Geomagnetizm i Aeronomiya, 2012, Vol. 52, No. 5, pp. 666–675.

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Frank-Kamenetskii, A.V., Kotikov, A.L., Kruglov, A.A. et al. Variations in the near-surface atmospheric electric field at high latitudes and ionospheric potential during geomagnetic perturbations. Geomagn. Aeron. 52, 629–638 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793212050064

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793212050064

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