The Impact of Adaptive High‐Latitude Coordinates

Abstract The high‐latitude ionosphere can be divided into three regions dominated by different types of coupling and characterized by distinctive behaviors. These are the polar cap, the auroral region, and the sub‐auroral region. Their locations are highly variable, changing in extent in response to driving conditions in the solar wind and within the magnetosphere. We discuss how defining high‐latitude coordinates relative to the boundaries between these physically significant regions (adaptive co‐ordinates) has major implications for statistical studies, modeling applications, and research combining magnetospheric and ionospheric data. We explore the impact of using adaptive co‐ordinates for statistical analyses of ionospheric vorticity, showing how using adaptive co‐ordinate systems provides a clearer picture of the latitudinal variation of vorticity, and how peaks and troughs in vorticity relate to the boundary locations.