Annales Geophysicae
Annales Geophysicae
ANGEO
Articles | Volume 40, issue 3
Articles | Volume 40, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-299-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-299-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 40, issue 3
Regular paper
 | 
13 May 2022
Regular paper |  | 13 May 2022

Ionospheric plasma flows associated with the formation of the distorted nightside end of a transpolar arc

Motoharu Nowada, Adrian Grocott, and Quan-Qi Shi

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-40-299-2022-supplement

Data sets

Super Dual Auroral Radar Network Data Catalogue British Antarctic Survey Super Dual Auroral Radar Network team http://bslsuperdarnc.nerc-bas.ac.uk/apps/sd-cat/

IMAGE FUV-WIC Data Access Imager for magnetopause-aurora global exploration science center team https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/image/

ACE OMNI Data Access NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Coordinated Data Analysis Web team https://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/cdaweb/istp_public/

The SuperMAG ground observatory network Data Access Jesper W Gjerloev and SuperMAG team https://supermag.jhuapl.edu/rBrowse/

Model code and software

SuperDARN/rst: RST 4.7 SuperDARN Data Analysis Working Group, A. G. Burrell, E. G. Thomas, M. T. Schmidt, E. C. Bland, I. Coco, P. V. Ponomarenko, K. T. Sterne, and M.-T. Walach https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6473603

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Short summary
We report that the ionospheric plasma flow patterns associated with the J-shaped transpolar arc (a type of nightside distorted TPA), detected by the SuperDARN radar, reveal the formation process of the nightside distortion of a TPA. Equatorward flows at the TPA growth point were observed flowing out of the polar cap and then turning toward the pre-midnight main auroral oval along the TPA nightside distortion. These ionospheric flow patterns would cause the distortion at the TPA nightside end.
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