Simultaneous measurements of the electric field in the auroral zone and at the equator during intense magnetic activity

Abstract

Simultaneous balloon measurements of the auroral zone electric field in Alaska and of the vertical drift velocity of the region at Jicamarca, Peru during the great flow of August 1972 are presented.· The eastward electric field component at the equator was correlated, with a 20 minute time delay, to the westward component of the auroral zone field at College, Alaska. The equatorial horizontal component actually reversed in sign from the normal westward value and, simultaneously, the electro­jet then flowing over the dayside hemisphere (at Trivandrum, India, fer example) was greatly depressed. These results show that intense auroral current systems can grossly affect both the normal dynamo current patterns at low latitudes en the dayside and the polarization fields responsible fer the worldwide low latitude zonal electric field component.