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Ann. Geophys., 20, 1899-1904, 2002
www.ann-geophys.net/20/1899/2002/
© European Geosciences Union 2002
SuperDARN E-region backscatter boundary in the dusk-midnight sector – tracer of equatorward boundary of the auroral oval
P. T. Jayachandran1, E. F. Donovan2, J. W. MacDougall1, D. R. Moorcroft1, J.-P. St. Maurice1, and P. Prikryl3
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
2Institute for Space Research and Department of Physics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
3Communications Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Correspondence to: P. T. Jayachandran (jaya@uwo.ca)
Abstract. We compare the locations
of the equatorward boundaries of SuperDARN E-region backscatter and Hb
emissions, focusing on the dusk-midnight sector of the auroral oval where the
proton aurora is statistically located equatorward of the discrete electron
aurora. We show that, whenever both boundaries can be simultaneously
identified, they are coincident. Our result complements earlier studies, which
demonstrated the correspondence between the DMSP b2i boundary and both the
equatorward boundary of the proton auroral oval (Donovan et al., 2002), and the
equatorward boundary of SuperDARN E-region echoes (Jayachandran et al., 2002).
Further, our result shows that, provided there is sufficient precipitating
proton energy flux, the SuperDARN radars can be used to monitor the equatorward
edge of the proton auroral oval.
Key words. Ionosphere (auroral
ionosphere; particle precipitation; ionospheric irregularities)
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