Statistical Relations Between Auroral Electrical Conductances and Field‐Aligned Currents at High Latitudes
R. M. Robinson, Stephen Kaeppler, Larry Zanetti, B. J. Anderson, S. K. Vines, H. Korth, A. Fitzmaurice
Abstract
Abstract Field‐aligned currents from the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) were combined with simultaneous and coincident observations of ionospheric conductivities made by the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR) in Alaska for 20 geomagnetically active days. The height‐integrated conductivities (conductances) were determined from the electron densities measured by the radar between 80 and 200 km altitude. Binning and averaging the data by field‐aligned current density and magnetic local time, we find that the currents correlate with conductances in both upward and downward current regions over some magnetic local times. The strongest correlation is seen in the late evening and morning sectors, with the Hall conductances two to three times larger than the Pedersen conductances for the same values of the field‐aligned current. The observed correlations reflect the mean energy of auroral precipitation, the contributions from electrons and protons to producing enhanced conductances, and the availability of charge carriers on auroral field lines. We apply linear fitting and smoothing to the correlations to construct an empirical model for specifying auroral conductances globally from AMPERE field‐aligned current maps. The energy fluxes from precipitating particles derived from the model conductances compare well with those derived using AMPERE data combined with satellite‐based measurements of far ultraviolet emissions, suggesting the results obtained at Poker Flat may be applicable to all high latitude locations. The ability to estimate conductances from AMPERE field‐aligned current maps provides the means to develop a global conductance model for the auroral ionosphere.