Abstract
The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability has been invoked to describe the formation of auroral curls and spirals. In this paper we present results about the generation of field-aligned currents (FACs) by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability using a three- dimensional compressible simulation at the dayside low-latitude boundary layer. We explore the relationship of the height-integrated Pedersen conductivity with the formation of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and the generation of FACs. A higher conductivity stabilizes the system but generates a larger integrated FAC. When the two ionospheres have different conductivities, an interhemispherical current can be generated.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Magnetospheric Current Systems, 2000 |
| Editors | Ryoichi Fujii, Shin-Ichi Ohtani, Michael Hesse, Robert L. Lysak |
| Publisher | Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
| Pages | 157-164 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781118669006 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780875909769 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2000 |
Publication series
| Name | Geophysical Monograph Series |
|---|---|
| Volume | 118 |
| ISSN (Print) | 0065-8448 |
| ISSN (Electronic) | 2328-8779 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:AcknowledgmentTsh. is work was supportebdy NASA Grants NGT5-50186 and NAG5-4466 and NSF Grant ATM-9502907. Supercomputing time was provided by the Minnesota SupercomputeIrn stitute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2000 by the American Geophysical Union.