Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling

Addresses the electrical coupling between the hot, but dilute, magnetospheric plasma and the cold, but dense, plasma in the ionosphere. Among the topics covered are: morphology of electric fields and currents at high latitudes and modelling of ionospheric electrodynamics.

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In the past two decades a succession of direct observations by satellites, and of extensive computer simulations, has led to the realization that the polar ionosphere plays a principal role in large-scale magnetospheric processes - a manifestation of the physics linkage involved in solar-terrestrial. Spatial/temporal variations in high-latitude electromagnetic phenomena, such as dynamic aurorae, electric fields and currents, have proved to be extremely complex. Now the challenge is to comprehend the vast amount of complicated measurements made in this magnetosphere-ionosphere system of the Earth. This book addresses the electrical coupling between the hot, but dilute, magnetospheric plasma and the cold, but dense, plasma in the ionosphere. The significance as well as difficulty in understanding how the basic observed phenomena is thoroughly discussed.
In five major chapters, this book presents: basic properties of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling; morphology of electric fields and currents at high latitudes; global modelling of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling; modelling of ionospheric electrodynamics; and current issues, such as auroral particle acceleration, substorms, penetration of high-latitude fields into low latitudes.