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Ann. Geophys., 24, 2981-2990, 2006
www.ann-geophys.net/24/2981/2006/
© European Geosciences Union 2006
Comparison of the magnetic equivalent convection direction and ionospheric convection observed by the SuperDARN radars
L. V. Benkevitch1, A. V. Koustov1, J. Liang2, and J. F. Watermann3
1Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies, University of Saskatchewan, 116 Science Place, Saskatoon, S7N 5E2 Canada
2Canadian Space Agency, Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada
3Danish Meteorological Institute, Lyngbyvej 100, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract. SuperDARN radar and high-latitude magnetometer observations are used to
statistically investigate quality of the convection direction estimates from
magnetometer data if assumption is made that the magnetic equivalent
convection vector (MEC) corresponds to the convection direction. The
statistics includes five full days, ~75 000 of joint individual
measurements for different seasons. It is demonstrated that the best (worst)
agreement between the MEC and ionospheric convection occurs for the sunlit,
summer (dark, winter) ionosphere. Overall, the MEC direction is reasonable
(deviates less than 45° from the SuperDARN direction) in at least ~55% of points and it is better for the latitudes of the auroral oval. In
terms of the magnetic local time, the agreement is the best (worst) in the
dusk (early morning) sector. Possible reasons for differences between the
MEC and ionospheric convection directions are discussed.
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