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Electrojet estimates from mesospheric magnetic field measurements
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  • Karl Laundal,
  • Jeng-Hwa Yee,
  • Viacheslav G. Merkin,
  • Jesper W. Gjerloev,
  • Heikki Vanhamäki,
  • Jone Peter Reistad,
  • Michael Madelaire,
  • Kareem Sorathia
Karl Laundal
University in Bergen, University in Bergen

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Jeng-Hwa Yee
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
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Viacheslav G. Merkin
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Jesper W. Gjerloev
APL-JHU, APL-JHU
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Heikki Vanhamäki
University of Oulu, University of Oulu
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Jone Peter Reistad
Birkeland Centre for Space Science, University of Bergen, Birkeland Centre for Space Science, University of Bergen
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Michael Madelaire
Birkeland Centre for Space Science, University of Bergen, Birkeland Centre for Space Science, University of Bergen
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Kareem Sorathia
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Abstract

The auroral electrojet is traditionally measured remotely with magnetometers on ground or in low Earth orbit (LEO). The sparse distribution of measurements, combined with a vertical distance of some 100 km to ground and typically >300 km to LEO satellites, means that smaller scale sizes can not be detected. Because of this, our understanding of the spatiotemporal characteristics of the electrojet is incomplete. Recent advances in measurement technology give hope of overcoming these limitations by multi-point remote detections of the magnetic field in the mesosphere, very close to the electrojet. We present a prediction of the magnitude of these disturbances, inferred from the spatiotemporal characteristics of magnetic field-aligned currents. We also discuss how Zeeman magnetic field sensors (Yee et al., 2020) onboard the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) satellites will be used to essentially image the equivalent current at unprecedented spatial resolution. The electrojet imaging is demonstrated by combining carefully simulated measurements with a spherical elementary current representation using a novel inversion scheme.
May 2021Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics volume 126 issue 5. 10.1029/2020JA028644