Evidence that auroral zone electric fields act in opposition to superrotation of the upper atmosphere |
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| Authors: | Michael C Kelley |
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| Institution: | School of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | The average auroral zone electric field pattern has been studied to determine whether such fields can, as has been suggested, drive the super-rotation of the upper atmosphere. It is shown that the local time averaged meridional electric field is small and, in fact, poleward, which would tend to drive a prevailing westerly wind. When averaged only over the dayside, where ion drag should be most important due to the higher ion density, the poleward average is even more pronounced. Thus at high latitudes ion drag acts to drive a prevailing neutral wind to the west. Model calculations indicate that without including electric fields the prevailing wind at mid-latitudes should be to the west, due to higher ion drag on the dayside. Including the present results will increase ion drag on the dayside and further enhance this effect. These results thus suggest that at middle and high latitudes the upper atmosphere does not superrotate. |
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