Abstract
The projection of the magnetospheric convection electric field into the ionosphere drives an asymmetric two-cell pattern of plasma circulation in the auroral zone. The Scandinavian Twin Auroral Radar Experiment (STARE) and the Sweden And Britain auroral Radar Experiment (SABRE) are two similar and independent coherent radar systems which can estimate E-region electron drift velocities at auroral latitudes. By combining their measurements, we have monitored simultaneously, for the first time, the convection flow pattern over 8 degrees of latitude. We show here how this allows a more extensive study of the nightside (Harang discontinuity) and dayside (cusp) boundaries between the cells, and enables spatial and temporal features of the flow pattern to be resolved.
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Burrage, M., Waldock, J., Jones, T. et al. Joint STARE and SABRE radar auroral observations of the high-latitude ionospheric convection pattern. Nature 316, 133–135 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316133a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316133a0
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