Noon

Abstract: The results of two studies that reported procedures for estimating insulation at sea are summarized. The insulation under clear skies may be computed reliably with a formula derived from the Smithsonian Meteorological Tables, using a transmission coefficient of 0.7, or with a formula derived by Lumb. For estimating the reduction of insolation by clouds, the factor 1−0.62C+0.0019α is suggested, where C is cloud amount in tenths and α is noon solar attitude. Random errors of estimate within 95% confidence limits are less than 10% for mean monthly data and are about ±20% for weekly periods.

Abstract: We have derived patterns that describe the statistical interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) dependencies of ionospheric convection in the high-latitude region of the northern hemisphere. The observations of plasma motion were made with the HF coherent backscatter radar located at Goose Bay, Labrador, over the period September 1987 to June 1993. The area covered by the measurements extended poleward of 65°Λ to a working limit of about 85°Λ. Distributions of electrostatic potential have been derived and expressed as series expansions in spherical harmonics. The patterns are the first derived from direct ground-based observations of ionospheric convection that approach in completeness and level of detail the patterns derived in recent satellite studies [Rich and Hairston, 1994; Weimer, 1995]. We show the dependence of the convection on IMF angle in the GSM y–z plane for three intervals of IMF magnitude in this plane. Except for predominantly northward IMF, the convection is primarily two-cell. The dusk cell is larger in terms of both spatial extent and potential variation/The effect of IMF By is apparent in the global shaping of the cells and the orientation of the overall pattern in MLT; for By + (By−) the dusk (dawn) cell is more round (crescent-shaped) and the pattern more rotated toward earlier MLTs. The By effect on the nightside convection is pronounced and is hemispherically antisymmetric, like the well-known day side By effect. For IMF increasingly northward, the convection trajectories on the dayside become increasingly distorted, evolving through a three-cell to a four-cell circulation. The additional cells appear on either side of the noon meridian and result in sunward flow. The overall agreement with the results of the satellite studies is good and extends to quite fine detail in the case of the comparison with Weimer [1995]. There are significant differences with the statistical patterns derived from magnetometer measurements, which tend to show domination by the dawn rather than the dusk cell.

Abstract: Particles of roughly magnetosheath energies precipitate at low altitudes throughout the dayside, in a band referred to as the cusp or cleft. Recently it has been suggested that the cusp proper is a more limited region of the cleft localized near noon, although the criteria for distinguishing between the two regions have been unclear. An investigation into the distinction between the low-altitude cusp and the cleft (with the latter herein identified as the ionospheric signature of the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL)) was performed on both a statistical and a case study basis. One year of DMSP F7 electron and ion data, comprising in all 5609 individual dayside passes, was employed. It was found that the average energy of precipitating particles allows for a clear morphological distinction between the cusp proper and the cleft/LLBL. Often both regions are observed on a given pass at the same MLT, each with its own characteristic properties. The probability of observing the cusp was found to be sharply peaked at 1200 MLT, while the probability of observing the cleft/LLBL was near unity away from noon and had a minimum at noon. The cusp was found to be 0.8°–1.1° magnetic latitude (MLAT) thick essentially independent of MLT, whereas the cleft was thinnest at noon and widened rapidly at local times away from noon. The ion number flux in the cusp was statistically 3.6 times higher than in the cleft. The peak flux within the cusp was located on average closer to the equatorward than to the poleward boundary. Yearly average composite spectrograms of precipitation in the two regions as a function of local time show that the properties of the cusp change comparatively little with local time, but that the peak ion energy flux in the cleft increases smoothly from roughly magnetosheath values close to noon to about plasma sheet boundary layer values near 0600 MLT.