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Abstract. An in-flight calibration study of the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) instrument on board SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) is presented. The relative intensity calibration of CDS is a fundamental requirement for deriving important physical parameters of the solar transition region and corona from the observations. This comprehensive study provides the first complete in-flight relative calibration of all nine CDS channels, first and second order. This has been achieved with the use of a spectroscopic calibration method, mainly based on the comparison between observed line ratios and theoretical predictions provided by the CHIANTI atomic database. The calibration method has been applied to a large number of observations (on-disc, off-limb, quiet sun, active region), to enable the use of a wide range of spectral lines from low to high temperatures of formation. The results are compared to the pre-launch calibration and other post-launch studies. Significant differences with the ground calibration results are found, while there is good agreement with the post-launch studies, based on rocket flights. It is also shown that the relative calibration has not significantly changed over a long period of time, thus confirming the excellent stability of the CDS instrument.

On October 27th 1984, high‐latitude ionospheric convection was observed by the European incoherent scatter (EISCAT) radar. For a nine‐hour period, simultaneous observations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) were obtained sunward of the Earth's bow shock. During this period, the IMF abruptly turned southward, having previously been predominantly northward for approximately three hours, and a strong enhancement in convection was observed 11 ± 1 minutes later. Using the very high time resolution of the EISCAT data, it is shown that the convection enhancement propagated eastward, around the afternoon magnetic local time sector, at a speed of the order of 1 kms−1. These results are interpreted in terms of the effects of an onset of steady IMF‐geomagnetic field merging and are the first to show how a new pattern of enhanced convection is established in the high latitude ionosphere.