Scientific article
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Measurements of Field-Aligned Currents in a Multiple Auroral Arc System

Published inJournal of Geophysical Research, vol. 81, no. 1, p. 116-122
Publication date1976
Abstract

A rocket-borne experiment to study the currents associated with a system of multiple auroral arcs was conducted at Poker Flat, Alaska, at 1122 UT on February 2, 1972. The magnetic field in the vicinity of the auroral system was measured with a cesium vector magnetometer. Possible configurations were inferred by constructing model current systems that reproduced the magnetic field variations measured along the flight path. The data are interpreted in terms of a model current system consisting of two eastward electrojets and one westward electrojet and three pairs of oppositely directed Birkeland sheet currents, all lying in a plane approximately parallel to the auroral arcs. Sheet thicknesses ranged from 20 to 60 km and current densities from 10 to 45 µA/m²; the electrojet currents ranged from 1000 to 2000 A. A possible alternate model consisted of four pairs of sheets whose thicknesses range from 10 to 40 km with current densities from 10 to 90 µA/m². There was quite good agreement between the locations of the visual arcs and the upward current sheets. The overall current configuration is discussed in view of the theoretical models constructed by Atkinson and Sato and Holzer and of other observations.

Affiliation entities Not a UNIGE publication
Citation (ISO format)
SESIANO, Jean, CLOUTIER, Paul A. Measurements of Field-Aligned Currents in a Multiple Auroral Arc System. In: Journal of Geophysical Research, 1976, vol. 81, n° 1, p. 116–122. doi: 10.1029/JA081i001p00116
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Additional URL for this publicationhttp://doi.wiley.com/10.1029/JA081i001p00116
Journal ISSN0148-0227
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