Van Allen Probe measurements of the electric drift E \texttimes B/B2 at Arecibo\textquoterights L = 1.4 field line coordinate

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Abstract
We have used electric and magnetic measurements by Van Allen Probe B from 2013 to 2014 to examine the equatorial electric drift E \texttimes B/B2 at one field line coordinate set to Arecibo\textquoterights incoherent scatter radar location (L = 1.43). We report on departures from the traditional picture of corotational motion with the Earth in two ways: (1) the rotational angular speed is found to be 10\% smaller than the rotational angular speed of the Earth, in agreement with previous works on plasmaspheric notches, and (2) the equatorial electric drift displays a dependence in magnetic local time, with a pattern consistent with the mapping of the Arecibo ionosphere dynamo electric fields along equipotential magnetic field lines. The electric fields due to the ionosphere dynamo are therefore expected to play a significant role when discussing, for instance, the structure and dynamics of the plasmasphere or the transport of trapped particles in the inner belt.
Year of Publication
2016
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
43
Number of Pages
6768-6774
Date Published
07/2016
URL
http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/2016GL069875
DOI
10.1002/2016GL069875
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