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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 112, A07208, doi:10.1029/2006JA012137, 2007

Penetration electric fields driving main phase Dst

William J. Burke

Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA
Boston College Institute for Scientific Research, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA


Louise C. Gentile

Boston College Institute for Scientific Research, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA


Cheryl Y. Huang

Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA


Abstract

On the basis of three selection criteria we have analyzed the main phase electrodynamics of 17 magnetic storms that occurred between 1999 and mid-2005: (1) the availability of solar wind measurements from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite, (2) a minimum Dst ≤ −100 nT, and (3) no significant recovery episode between the beginning and maximum epoch of the main phase (dDst/dt > 0). We combined the Volland-Stern and Siscoe-Hill models to estimate the intensities of electric fields (E VS) in the equatorial plane as the polar cap potential divided by the width of the magnetosphere along the dawn-dusk axis. A survey of provisional Dst and E VS traces over the 5.5 years of interest shows that all sustained excursions of E VS above quiet time levels of 0.22 ± 0.08 mV/m were closely tied to the main phases of storms. In every instance, E VS returned to background at or near the beginning of the recovery phase. The data indicate very high correlations between Dst and I VS = ∫E VS dt during the main phase of all selected storms.

Received 26 October 2006; accepted 17 April 2007; published 11 July 2007.

Keywords: electric fields; magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling; magnetic indices.

Index Terms: 2431 Ionosphere: Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions (2736); 2778 Magnetospheric Physics: Ring current; 2712 Magnetospheric Physics: Electric fields (2411); 2788 Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetic storms and substorms (7954).

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Citation: Burke, W. J., L. C. Gentile, and C. Y. Huang (2007), Penetration electric fields driving main phase Dst, J. Geophys. Res., 112, A07208, doi:10.1029/2006JA012137.