Paper#: 40
Poster #:
Session Name: Workshop 3A: M/I Coupling
Room: West Ballroom
Day: Tuesday
Time: 2:15-2:40 p.m.
Abstract Title: Ionospheric Convection during Magnetospheric Substorms
PresentSurname: Lester, M.
All Authors: M. Lester
Abstract : Global observations of ionospheric convection are an important source of information on the global electrodynamics of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system during magnetospheric substorms. Convection is driven by reconnection at the dayside between the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and the geomagnetic field and subsequent reconnection in the tail. The substorm growth phase is considered to start with a southward turning of the IMF, which stimulates the flow in the ionosphere. A number of questions concerning the stimulation of ionospheric convection during the expansion and recovery phases of substorms remain, however. In this paper we review our current understanding and identify critical problems that need to be resolved with particular reference to the physics of magnetospheric substorms.