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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Mesoscale observations of Joule heating near an auroral arc and ion-neutral collision frequency in the polar cap E region
AU - Kosch, M.J.
AU - Yiu, I.
AU - Anderson, C.
AU - Tsuda, T.
AU - Ogawa, Y.
AU - Nozawa, S.
AU - Aruliah, A.
AU - Howells, V.
AU - Baddeley, L.J.
AU - McCrea, I.W.
AU - Wild, J.A.
N1 - Copyright (2011) American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.
PY - 2011/5/21
Y1 - 2011/5/21
N2 - We report on the first mesoscale combined ionospheric and thermospheric observations, partly in the vicinity of an auroral arc, from Svalbard in the polar cap on 2 February 2010. The EISCAT Svalbard radar employed a novel scanning mode in order to obtain F and E region ion flows over an annular region centered on the radar. Simultaneously, a colocated Scanning Doppler Imager observed the E region neutral winds and temperatures around 110 km altitude using the 557.7 nm auroral optical emission. Combining the ion and neutral data permits the E region Joule heating to be estimated with an azimuthal spatial resolution of ∼64 km at a radius of ∼163 km from the radar. The spatial distribution of Joule heating shows significant mesoscale variation. The ion-neutral collision frequency is measured in the E region by combining all the data over the entire field of view with only weak aurora present. The estimated ion-neutral collision frequency at ∼113 km altitude is in good agreement with the MSIS atmospheric model.
AB - We report on the first mesoscale combined ionospheric and thermospheric observations, partly in the vicinity of an auroral arc, from Svalbard in the polar cap on 2 February 2010. The EISCAT Svalbard radar employed a novel scanning mode in order to obtain F and E region ion flows over an annular region centered on the radar. Simultaneously, a colocated Scanning Doppler Imager observed the E region neutral winds and temperatures around 110 km altitude using the 557.7 nm auroral optical emission. Combining the ion and neutral data permits the E region Joule heating to be estimated with an azimuthal spatial resolution of ∼64 km at a radius of ∼163 km from the radar. The spatial distribution of Joule heating shows significant mesoscale variation. The ion-neutral collision frequency is measured in the E region by combining all the data over the entire field of view with only weak aurora present. The estimated ion-neutral collision frequency at ∼113 km altitude is in good agreement with the MSIS atmospheric model.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78651247619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2010JA016015
DO - 10.1029/2010JA016015
M3 - Journal article
VL - 116
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research
SN - 0148-0227
IS - A05321
ER -