Authors

E. Zesta, H. J. Singer, D. Lummerzheim, C. T. Russell, L. R. Lyons, M. J. Brittnacher

Magnetospheric Current Systems, ed. by S. Ohtani and R. L. Lysak, American Geophysical Union, Washington, p. 217, 2000.

Abstract

On January 10, 1997 a strong pressure pulse, observed by the WIND spacecraft between 1030 and 1055 UT, hit the magnetosphere, after about a one-half hour delay, causing the strengthening and widening of the auroral electrojet at all local times. The duration of the electrojet perturbation was the same as the duration of the solar wind pressure pulse. The pulse occurred during the well-studied Jan 10-11, 1997 magnetic storm and during strong geomagnetic activity. We study the effect of the pressure pulse on the ionospheric current, using a global network of more than 100 ground magnetometers, images from the POLAR spacecraft, and solar wind measurements from the WIND and Geotail spacecraft. We find that the magnetospheric and ionospheric response is directly driven by the solar wind conditions and clearly related to the onset, duration and end of the pressure pulse. In addition it appears that the enhancement of the Region 1 currents opposed the effect of the enhancement of the magnetopause current for locations near noon. These responses are not characteristics of a typical substorm.

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