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Birkeland Currents: Present Understanding and Some Remaining Questions

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High-Latitude Space Plasma Physics

Part of the book series: Nobel Foundation Symposia Published by Plenum ((NOFS,volume 54))

Abstract

Kristian Birkeland determined that large-scale ionospheric currents were associated with the aurora. He deduced this from his surface magnetic field measurements in the polar regions at the beginning of the twentieth century. He suggested that these “auroral currents” originated far from the Earth and that they flowed into and away from the polar atmosphere along geomagnetic field lines. The existence of such field-aligned or Birkeland currents was widely disputed because it was not possible to unambiguously identify current systems that are field-aligned (Alfvén, 1939; 1940) and those which are completely contained in the ionosphere (Vestine and Chapman, 1938) only from a study of surface magnetic field measurements. Observations acquired from a variety of rocket and satellite experiments have absolutely confirmed the presence of Birkeland currents and have demonstrated the important role that these intense currents (ranging between 106 and 107 amperes) play in the coupling of energy between interplanetary space and the lower atmosphere and ionosphere. The Birkeland currents are a critical ingredient in a variety of plasma processes on this planet (associated with aurora and radio emissions), on Jupiter (associated with Io-related radio emissions), and in our galaxy (related to comets and double radio sources, e. g., Alfvén, 1981). Considerable effort has been directed, during the past number of years, in establishing the statistical characteristics of Birkeland currents. Some of this past work will be reviewed here and some major remaining questions will be posed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Maryland, USA, 20707

    T. A. Potemra

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  1. T. A. Potemra
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kiruna Geophysical Institute, Kiruna, Sweden

    Bengt Hultqvist

  2. EISCAT Scientific Association, Kiruna, Sweden

    Tor Hagfors

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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York

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Potemra, T.A. (1983). Birkeland Currents: Present Understanding and Some Remaining Questions. In: Hultqvist, B., Hagfors, T. (eds) High-Latitude Space Plasma Physics. Nobel Foundation Symposia Published by Plenum, vol 54. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3652-5_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3652-5_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-3654-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-3652-5

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