Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1777682 Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 2012 7 Pages PDF
Abstract
The suggestion that the polar cap can completely disappear under certain northward IMF conditions is still controversial. We know that the size of the polar cap is strongly controlled by the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Under a southward IMF, the polar cap is usually large and filled with weak diffuse polar rain electrons. The polar cap shrinks under a northward IMF. Here we use the global auroral images and coincident particle measurements on May 15, 2005 to show that the discrete arcs (due to precipitation of both electrons and ions) expanded from the dayside oval to the nightside oval and filled the whole polar ionosphere after a long (8 h) and strong (∼5-30 nT) northward IMF Bz, The observations suggested that the polar cap disappeared under a closed magnetosphere.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Earth and Planetary Sciences Geophysics
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