Response of the reconnection electric field and polar cap potential to the IMF and velocity of solar wind

It is well known that the cross polar cap potential is saturated under a strong interplanetary electric field and is often said to be related to the ionospheric currents. To investigate the other factors influencing this phenomenon, a global magnetohydrodynamics simulation not including the feedback from the ionosphere to the magnetosphere was conducted. The simulation results showed that an increase in the southward IMF causes a smaller increase in the cross polar cap potential than that caused by an increase in the solar wind velocity. This difference was caused by the transportation of reconnected magnetic field lines towards the tail.