Self-consistent magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling: Theoretical studies

Inductive magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling

Inductive coupling of a global magnetospheric model to a global ionospheric–thermospheric model is described. Existing schemes based on electrostatic coupling are valid for magnetospheric variability occurring on time scales of order 100 s or longer. The formulation developed here extends the validity of the coupling model to time scales of order 10 s, while retaining the physics of quasi-stati...

Magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling currents in Jupiter’s middle magnetosphere: effect of magnetosphere-ionosphere decoupling by field-aligned auroral voltages

We consider the effect of field-aligned voltages on the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling current system associated with the breakdown of rigid corotation of equatorial plasma in Jupiter’s middle magnetosphere. Previous analyses have assumed perfect mapping of the electric field and flow along equipotential field lines between the equatorial plane and the ionosphere, whereas it has been shown t...

Use of Euler potentials for describing magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling

[1] We present a general formulation of the basic equations of large-scale magnetosphereionosphere coupling in terms of Euler potentials and describe a specific numerical implementation of this formulation in the context of the Rice Convection Model (RCM). When written in terms of Euler potentials, both the Vasyliunas magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling equation and the expression for bounce-aver...

Non-Potential Electric Field Model of Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling

Auroral vortex street formed by the magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling instability

By performing three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations including Alfvén eigenmode perturbations most unstable to the ionospheric feedback effects, we examined the auroral vortex street that often appears just before substorm onset. We found that an initially placed arc splits, intensifies, and rapidly deforms into a vortex street. We also found that there is a critical convection elect...