Abstract We review observations of field aligned currents made simultaneously by more than one spacecraft, concentrating on observations made in the middle or outer magnetosphere. The Region 1/Region 2 current system, first detected in the Triad magnetometer data in low Earth orbit, has been detected in the middle magnetosphere. This signature is most clear on the dayside, but the classic Iijima and Potemra structure is seen only 25% of the time. Much of the time the current structure is more complicated, while during quiet times no currents are seen. The near earth nightside region is dominated by substorm currents. However in the more distant tail (10–20 RE) the Region 1 currents have been detected embedded in the plasma sheet boundary layer. An oppositely directed current appears to flow on the very outermost boundary of the plasma sheet. The signatures of the field aligned current portion of the substorm current wedge, originally deduced from mid latitude magnetograms, is clear near geosynchronous orbit, provided the data is organized by the ground based signature of the currents. But at geosynchronous orbit the magnetic perturbations exhibit far more fine structure, are often shorter-lived, and usually cover a smaller longitudinal extent than at mid latitudes. All these observations suggest that the currents flow reasonably close to geosynchronous spacecraft, albeit on larger L shells. Too few observations have been made further down the tail to confirm whether the substorm current wedge pattern can be detected there.
Multisatellite observations of field-aligned current systems
Advances in Space Research ; 8 , 9-10 ; 321-331
1989-01-01
11 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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