ANGEO Annales Geophysicae ANGEO Ann. Geophys. 1432-0576 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/angeo-28-977-2010 Storming the Bastille: the effect of electric fields on the ionospheric F-layer Rishbeth H. 1 5 Heelis R. A. 2 Makela J. J. 3 Basu S. 4 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA Institute for Scientific Research, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA deceased 16 04 2010 28 4 977 981 Copyright: © 2010 H. Rishbeth et al. 2010 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/28/977/2010/angeo-28-977-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/28/977/2010/angeo-28-977-2010.pdf

We discuss different phenomena occurring during ionospheric F-region storms that in principle might be caused by electric fields and point out challenges that must be faced when considering the physical processes at work. We consider the transport of plasma across many degrees of latitude at sub-auroral latitudes, the origin of patches of so-called "storm enhanced density" at high mid-latitudes, and the very high reported heights of the F2 peak at low latitudes. We discuss the role that electric fields might play in changing locally the net production of ionization as well as transporting it. We suggest that the local change in ionization production should be considered as a more important process for producing plasma density enhancements than transport from a more remote source of enhanced density.

 References Basu, S., Basu, S., Groves, K. M., Yeh, H.-C., Su, S.-Y., Rich, F. J., Sultan, P. J., and Keskinen, M. J.: Response of the equatorial ionosphere in the South Atlantic Region to the Great Magnetic Storm of July 15, 2000, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28(18), 3577–3580, 2001. Basu, S., Basu, Su., Rich, F. J., Groves, K. M., MacKenzie, E., Coker, C., Sahai, Y., Fagundes, P. R., and Becker-Guedes, F.: Response of the equatorial ionosphere at dusk to penetration electric fields during intense magnetic storms, J. Geophys. Res., 112, A08308, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JA012192, 2007. Chen, A. J. and Grebowsky, J. M.: Plasma tail interpretations of pronounced detached plasma regions measured by OGO 5, J. Geophys. Res., 79, 3851–3855, 1974. Fejer, B. G., Jensen, J. W., Kikuchi, T., Abdu, M. A., and Chau, J. L.: Equatorial ionospheric electric fields during the November 2004 magnetic storm, J. Geophys Res., 112, A10304, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JA012376, 2007. Foster, J. C., Erickson, P. J., Coster, A. J., Goldstein, J., and Rich, F. J.: Ionospheric signatures of plasmaspheric tails, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(13), 1623, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL015067, 2002. Foster, J. C., Coster, A. J., Erickson, P. J., Rich, F. J., and Sandel, B. R.: Stormtime observations of the flux of plasmaspheric ions to the dayside cusp/magnetopause, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L08809, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020082, 2004. Foster, J. C., Coster, A. J., Erikson, P. J., et al.: Multiradar observations of the polar tongue of ionization, J. Geophys. Res., 110, A09S31, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JA010928, 2005. Goldstein, J., Sandel, B. R., Forrester, W. T., and Reiff, P. H.: IMF-driven plasmasphere erosion of 10 July 2000, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(3), 1146, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL016478, 2003. Heelis, R. A. and Coley, W. R.: Variations in the low- and middle-latitude topside ion concentration observed by DMSP during superstorm events, J. Geophys. Res., 112, A08310, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JA012326, 2007. Heelis, R. A., Sojka, J. J., David, M., and Schunk, R. W.: Storm time density enhancements in the middle-latitude dayside ionosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 114, A03315, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JA013690, 2009. Immel, T. J., Foster, J. C., Coster, A. J., Mende, S. B., and Frey, H. U.: Global storm time plasma redistribution imaged from the ground and space, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L03107, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL021120, 2005. Kelley, M. C., Vlasov, M. N., Foster, J. C., and Coster, A. J.: A quantitative explanation for the phenomenon known as storm-enhanced density, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L19809, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020875, 2004. Kil, H., Paxton, L. J., Pi, X., Hairston, M. R., and Zhang, Y.: Case study of the 15 July 2000 magnetic storm effects on the ionosphere-driver of the positive ionospheric storm in the winter hemisphere, J. Geophys. Res., 108(A11), 1391, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JA009782, 2003. Lin, C. H., Richmond, A. D., Heelis, R. A., Bailey, G. J., Lu, G., Liu, J. Y., Yeh, H. C., and Su, S.-Y.: Theoretical study of the low- and midlatitude ionospheric electron density enhancement during the October 2003 superstorm: Relative importance of the neutral wind and the electric field, J. Geophys. Res., 110, A12312, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JA011304, 2005. Lin, C. H., Richmond, A. D., Liu, J. Y., Bailey, G. J., and Reinisch, B. W.: Theoretical study of new plasma structures in the low-latitude ionosphere during a major magnetic storm, J. Geophys. Res., 114, A05303, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JA013951, 2009. Mannucci, A. J., Tsurutani, B. T., Iijima, B. A., Komjathy, A., Saito, A., Gonzalez, W. D., Guarnieri, F. L., Kozyra, J. U., and Skoug, R.: Dayside global ionospheric response to the major interplanetary events of October 29–30, 2003 "Halloween Storms", Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L12S02, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL021467, 2005. Rishbeth, H. and Hanson, W. B.: A comment on `plasma pile-up' in the F-region, J. Atmos. Terr. Phys., 36, 703–706, 1974. Scherliess, L. and Fejer, B. G.: Radar and satellite global equatorial <i>F</i> region vertical drift model, J. Geophys. Res., 104(A4), 6829–6842, 1999. Tsurutani, B., Mannucci, A., Iijima, B., et al.: Global dayside ionospheric uplift and enhancement associated with interplanetary electric fields, J. Geophys. Res., 109, A08302, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JA010342, 2004. Vlasov, M., Kelley, M. C., and Kil, H.: Analysis of ground-based and satellite observations of F-region behaviour during the great magnetic storm of July 15, 2000, J. Atmos. Solar-Terrest. Phys., 65, 1223–1234, 2003. Yin, P., Mitchell, C. N., Spencer, P. S. J., and Foster, J. C.: Ionospheric electron concentration imaging using GPS over the USA during the storm of July 2000, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L12806, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019899, 2004.