Penetration electric fields: Efficiency and characteristic time scale

Penetration of the interplanetary electric field (IEF) to the middle- and low-latitude ionosphere has been investigated for nearly four decades. Most previous studies focused on the correlation between the interplanetary and ionospheric electric field perturbations. Very little attention has been paid to a quantitative relationship except for a recent case analysis by Kelley et al. [2003. Penetration of the solar wind electric field into the magnetosphere/ionosphere system. Geophysical Research Letters 30(4), 1158. doi:10.1029/2002GL016321]. In this paper, we present a statistical result of the efficiency of IEF penetration to the dayside equatorial ionosphere; the efficiency is defined as the ratio of the change of the equatorial ionospheric electric field to the change of the IEF. The Jicamarca incoherent scatter radar has made continuous operation with a coherent scatter mode since 2001, and the radar data of equatorial ionospheric electric fields are used in our statistics. On the basis of data statistics, we derive an empirical value of 9.6% for the efficiency of penetration. We apply this empirical formula to the observations and numerical simulations of storm-time penetration electric fields over a prolonged interval of southward interplanetary magnetic field. The prediction of the formula is in good agreement with case studies and with results from first-principle simulations of the coupled magnetosphere–ionosphere–thermosphere system. We conclude that the IEF can continuously penetrate to the low-latitude ionosphere without significant attenuation for many hours during the main phase of magnetic storms.