Modeling of Ground Magnetic Signatures Associated with High Latitude IonosphericCurrent Systems

摘要

Due to their location, ionospheric currents are difficult to study directly. Togather information indirectly, magnetometers have been placed throughout the polar regions to measure perturbations in the geomagnetic field caused by the currents. Understanding the abilities and limitations of the magnetometer networks to resolve details about changes in the magnetic field provides insight into the accuracy of the data. Discovering these abilities and limitations is the focus of this research. For use with ionospheric current system models, a simulation was made of a ground magnetometer. After validation of this simulation, it was used to verify Fukushima's theory on the cancellation of the ground magnetic signatures caused by the field aligned currents and Pedersen current. A distribution of the simulated magnetometers, patterned after the Scandinavian Magnetometer Array, proved successful in gathering information about traveling convection twin vortices. A global distribution of the magnetometers was tested with an ionospheric substorm model to find out what effects gaps in magnetometer coverage would have on the accuracy of data collected.