On the use of IMAGE FUV for estimating the latitude of the open/closed magnetic field line boundary in the ionosphere

Abstract. A statistical comparison of the latitude of the open/closed magnetic field line boundary (OCB) as estimated from the three far ultraviolet (FUV) detectors onboard the IMAGE spacecraft (the Wideband Imaging camera, WIC, and the Spectrographic Imagers, SI-12 and SI-13) has been carried out over all magnetic local times. A total of over 400 000 OCB estimations were compared from December 2000 and January and December of 2001–2002. The modal latitude difference between the FUV OCB proxies from the three detectors is small, <1°, except in the predawn and evening sectors, where the SI-12 OCB proxy is found to be displaced from both the SI-13 and WIC OCB proxies by up to 2° poleward in the predawn sector and by up to 2° equatorward in the evening sector. Comparing the IMAGE FUV OCB proxies with that determined from particle precipitation measurements by the Defense Meteorological Satellites Program (DMSP) also shows systematic differences. The SI-12 OCB proxy is found to be at higher latitude in the predawn sector, in better agreement with the DMSP OCB proxy. The WIC and SI-13 OCB proxies are found to be in better agreement with the DMSP OCB proxy at most other magnetic local times. These systematic offsets may be used to correct FUV OCB proxies to give a more accurate estimate of the OCB latitude.