| Summary: | [1] The field-aligned currents in the dayside cusp and polar cap region are examined using magnetic data from the low-altitude polar-orbiting satellite Orsted. The study is confined to cases where the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) has a steady northward component and to a rather narrow region spanning similar to 4 hours around magnetic noon. We examine individual passes using a maximum variance analysis method, and we complement, for a single event, with ground-based data from the Greenland meridian chain of magnetometers. We suggest that when an east-west component B-y of the IMF exists for positive IMF B-z, the two NBZ (northward B-z) field-aligned currents that prevail over the polar region rotate to form the two field-aligned currents equatorward and poleward of the east-west flowing ionospheric DPY current in the dayside. The high accuracy of the Orsted data makes it possible to uncover details not previously described.
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