[1] We present a global view of large-scale ionospheric disturbances during the main phase of a major geomagnetic storm. We find that the low-latitude, auroral, and polar latitude regions are coupled by processes that redistribute thermal plasma throughout the system. For the large geomagnetic storm on 20 November 2003, we examine data from the high-latitude incoherent scatter radars at Millstone Hill, Sondrestrom, and EISCAT Tromso, with SuperDARN HF radar observations of the high-latitude convection pattern and DMSP observations of in situ plasma parameters in the topside ionosphere. We combine these with north polar maps of stormtime plumes of enhanced total electron content (TEC) derived from a network of GPS receivers. The polar tongue of ionization (TOI) is seen to be a continuous stream of dense cold plasma entrained in the global convection pattern. The dayside source of the TOI is the plume of storm enhanced density (SED) transported from low latitudes in the postnoon sector by the subauroral disturbance electric field. Convection carries this material through the dayside cusp and across the polar cap to the nightside where the auroral F region is significantly enhanced by the SED material. The three incoherent scatter radars provided full altitude profiles of plasma density, temperatures, and vertical velocity as the TOI plume crossed their different positions, under the cusp, in the center of the polar cap, and at the midnight oval/polar cap boundary. Greatly elevated F peak density (>1.5E12 m À3) and low electron and ion temperatures ($2500 K at the F peak altitude) characterize the SED/TOI plasma observed at all points along its high-latitude trajectory. For this event, SED/TOI F region TEC (150-1000 km) was $50 TECu both in the cusp and in the center of the polar cap. Large, upward directed fluxes of O+ (>1.E14 m À2 s À1 ) were observed in the topside ionosphere from the SED/TOI plume within the cusp.

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[1] Electron densities retrieved from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) radio occultation (RO) measurements are compared with those measured by incoherent scatter radars (ISR) and ionosondes in this paper. These results show that electron density profiles retrieved from COSMIC RO data are in agreement with the ISR and ionosonde measurements. The ionospheric characteristics (N m F 2 and h m F 2 ) derived from the COSMIC satellites are also compared with those calculated by the latest International Reference Ionosphere model (IRI-2001) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere-IonosphereElectrodynamics General Circulation Model (NCAR-TIEGCM). The comparison of the magnitude of the COSMIC N m F 2 data with those calculated by the IRI model and the TIEGCM is good. However, features such as the north-south asymmetry and longitudinal variation of the equatorial anomaly that are seen in the COSMIC data and the TIEGCM simulations are not fully present in the IRI model. On the other hand, the TIEGCM produces a stronger winter anomaly than that seen in either the COSMIC data or the IRI model.

A precipitation index is described which quantifies the intensity and spatial extent of high‐latitude particle precipitation based on observations made along individual satellite passes. By sorting plasma convection data according to this index, average patterns of the ionospheric convection electric field have been derived from a data set consisting of five years' observations by the Millstone Hill radar. Reference to the instantaneous precipitation index, and the average patterns keyed to it, provides a means of characterizing the global precipitation and convection patterns throughout an event.

Abstract. Joule heating that is generated at high latitudes in the thermosphere because of the magnetospherically imposed electric potential •s proportional to the average of the square of the electric field (E field)ø Most theoretical Joule heating computations use only average electric fields, resulting in heating that is proportional to the square of the average E field. The computation of the average of the square of the E field requires knowledge about the statistical characteristics of E field variability associated with the average electric field model. In this paper we present the variability associated with the Millstone Hill bin-averaged empirical E field model [Foster et al. 1986] and discuss the implications of variability as an upper atmosphere energy source. We rebinned the radar plasma drift measurements from Millstone Hill, Massachusetts, in magnetic latitude and local time as a function of auroral activity and calculated the average electric fields and the variability associated with them as reflected in the bin standard deviationso We present the E field patterns and the associated variability for both quiet and disturbed geomagnetic conditions for the four seasonso We show that for an electric field model with a Gaussian distribution of small-scale variability around the mean, the average field and the variability have equal contributions to Joule heating generation.

We report a significant poleward surge in thermospheric winds at subauroral and midlatitudes following the 17–18 March 2015 great geomagnetic storm. This premidnight surge is preceded by strong westward winds. These disturbances were observed over three sites with geodetic latitudes 35–42°N in the American sector by Fabry‐Perot interferometers at 630 nm wavelength. Prior to the wind disturbances, subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) were measured by the Millstone Hill incoherent scatter radar between 20 and 02 UT. We identify the observed neutral wind variations as driven by SAPS, through a scenario where strong ion flows cause a westward neutral wind, subsequently establishing a poleward wind surge due to the poleward Coriolis force on that westward wind. These regional disturbances appear to have prevented the well‐known storm time equatorward wind surge from propagating into low latitudes, with the consequence that the classic disturbance dynamo mechanism failed to occur.

[1] A prominent ionospheric longitudinal variation at midlatitudes, in particular, over the continental US, was found recently. This variation is characterized as a higher east-side electron density in the evening and a higher west-side electron density in the morning, and with clear seasonal and solar activity dependencies. A combined effect of geomagnetic declination and changing zonal winds was proposed to explain it. This paper represents a comprehensive investigation of this effect by examining climatology for both electron density longitudinal differences and the nighttime zonal winds in the eastern US. Electron density is from incoherent scatter radar extra-wide coverage experiments during 1978-2011 over Millstone Hill for which the spatial separation of the data can be up to 50 in longitude. The thermospheric zonal wind is from the on-site Fabry-Perot interferometer measurements during 1989-2001. The observed zonal wind climatology is found to be perfectly consistent with the expectation based on the east-west electron density differences in terms of local time, seasonal, and solar cycle dependencies. The correlation between the zonal wind and the east-west differential ratio is extremely high with an overall correlation coefficient of 0.93. The observed time delay of $3 hours in the response of electron density differences to zonal winds is a marked feature. Thus these results confirm positively the declination-zonal wind mechanism and provide new insight into longitudinal variations at midlatitudes for other geographic sectors.Citation: Zhang, S.-R., J. C. Foster, J. M. Holt, P. J. Erickson, and A. J. Coster (2012), Magnetic declination and zonal wind effects on longitudinal differences of ionospheric electron density at midlatitudes,

[1] Ionospheric ion temperature is an excellent approximation to neutral temperature in the upper atmosphere, especially, for altitudes below 300 km. This analysis of long-term ionospheric ion temperature changes between 100 and 550 km at noon is based on a database of incoherent scatter radar observations spanning more than three solar cycles during 1968-2006 at Millstone Hill and provides direct evidence of long-term changes and their height dependency in the upper atmospheric temperature. A cooling trend at altitudes above 200 km and an apparent warming trend below 200 km are found. The cooling increases with height and shows variability with solar activity. The apparent warming varies with season and solar activity. It may result from the thermal subsidence caused by atmospheric contraction and pressure level change and from the ion temperature overestimation in the F1 region due to ion composition long-term changes. These long-term changes in ion temperature are accompanied by changes in electron density, being lower above the F2 peak and higher below the F2 peak. Electron temperature is accordingly enhanced. All these changes appear to be suggestive of a long-term greenhouse gas effect.