Alfvén wave boundary condition for responsive magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling
Abstract
The solution of electric fields and currents in a height-resolved ionosphere is traditionally solved as an elliptic equation with Dirichlet or Neumann boundary condition in which the magnetosphere is represented as an unresponsive (prescribed) voltage generator or current source. In this paper we derive an alternative boundary condition based upon Alfvén waves in which only the Alfvén wave from the magnetosphere that is incident upon the ionosphere (Exi) is prescribed. For a uniform magnetosphere the new boundary condition reduces to ∂φ/∂z=(∂2φ/ ∂x2+2∂Exi/∂x)/(μ0VAσ||) and is evaluated at the magnetosphere-ionosphere interface. The resulting solution is interpreted as a responsive magnetosphere and establishes a key stage in the full self-consistent and nonlinear coupling of the magnetosphere and ionosphere.
Citation
Wright , A N & Russell , A J B 2014 , ' Alfvén wave boundary condition for responsive magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics , vol. 119 , no. 5 , pp. 3996-4009 . https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JA019763
Publication
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2169-9402Type
Journal article
Rights
©2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Description
A.J.B.R. thanks STFC for present support through consolidated grant ST/K000993/1 and gratefully acknowledges a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Research Fellowship that also assisted this work.Collections
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