The Pedersen current carried by electrons: a non-linear response of the ionosphere to magnetospheric forcing

• Published in: Annales Geophysicae
• Main Authors: S. C. Buchert, T. Tsuda, R. Fujii, S. Nozawa
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2008
• Subjects: Science; Q; Physics; QC1-999; Geophysics. Cosmic physics; QC801-809; Pedersen; Svalbard; EISCAT
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-26-2837-2008; https://doaj.org/article/0cb09b3c78ce40149cb5db56cb228898

Observations by the EISCAT Svalbard radar show that electron temperatures T e in the cusp electrojet reach up to about 4000 K. The heat is tapped and converted from plasma convection in the near Earth space by a Pedersen current that is carried by electrons due to the presence of irregularities and...