On the Estimation of the Inductive Electric Field in the Magnetosphere
1986 年 38 巻 4 号 p. 231-238
詳細
1986 年 38 巻 4 号 p. 231-238
The problems encountered in estimating the inductive electric field from a combination of whistler data and simultaneous ionospheric measurement of the electric field are examined. It is shown quantitatively that the presence of time varying currents in the magnetosphere can produce large errors in estimating, from the whistler data, the electric fields in the region of the current flow. The distortions in the field lines produced by the currents make it difficult to infer the potential electric fields in the equatorial magnetosphere given the electric fields in the region of the ionosphere. Thus from the whistler and ionospheric observations during periods of magnetic activity, it becomes difficult to estimate the inductive and potential components of the electric field in the magnetosphere without an accurate knowledge of the current systems prevailing at the time of observations. Presence of large field aligned electric fields can prevent the use of the technique in the region of intense particle precipitation.
