Dusk-Dawn Asymmetries in SuperDARN Convection Maps

Walach, Maria and Grocott, Adrian and Thomas, Evan and Staples, Frances (2022) Dusk-Dawn Asymmetries in SuperDARN Convection Maps. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127 (12): e2022JA030. ISSN 2169-9402

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Abstract

The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is a collection of radars built to study ionospheric convection. We use a 7-year archive of SuperDARN convection maps, processed in 3 different ways, to build a statistical understanding of dusk-dawn asymmetries in the convection patterns. We find that the data set processing alone can introduce a bias which manifests itself in dusk-dawn asymmetries. We find that the solar wind clock angle affects the balance in the strength of the convection cells. We further find that the location of the positive potential foci is most likely observed at latitudes of 78° for long periods (>300 min) of southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), as opposed to 74° for short periods (