Interhemispheric and Seasonal Differences in Ionospheric Field-Aligned Currents, Horizontal Currents and Electric Fields (Invited)

Many studies have reported that the ionospheric cross polar cap potential does not vary by more than 10%-20% between the different hemispheres when the solar illumination can change by 100%. This has obvious implications on what the ionospheric conductances need to be in order to support the similarity in the electric fields. In addition, the currents that flow into and through the ionosphere must be dramatically affected by the similarities or differences in the electric fields and conductances. We will explore the hemispheric consistency between the field-aligned currents and electric fields under varying solar illumination conditions utilizing various data sets, the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics technique and the BATSRUS global magnetospheric model.