Conjugate Ionospheric Response to Dayside Reconnection in Both Hemispheres
Abstract Magnetic reconnection, the dominant process responsible for energy and plasma transport into the magnetosphere, influences plasma circulation in the Earth's polar ionospheres. However, the conjugate response in the two polar ionospheres is not well documented. In this work, based on a case study analysis on 11 February 2004, we used a combination of EISCAT and Super Dual Auroral Radar Network radars in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres to investigate the one‐to‐one ionospheric response to dayside magnetic reconnection in the two hemispheres under a southward interplanetary magnetic field. A series of flux transfer events generated by magnetic reconnection enhanced the throat convection and voltage in the polar regions. The observations suggest that newly opened magnetic flux tubes in the summer hemisphere moved faster toward the polar cap than in the winter hemisphere due to dayside magnetic reconnection. This hemispheric asymmetry may be due to factors such as magnetic reconnection kink degree, the coverage of radar echoes.
Authors
- Xiangyu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4504-6147)
- Lingxin Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9699-9389)
- Bin Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6965-1903)
- M. Lockwood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7397-2172)
- J. J. Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4831-1011)
- Kjellmar Oksavik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4312-6992)
- Yong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5853-8036)
- Jin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6028-3733)
- Yu‐Zhang Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5767-4346)
- Qinghe Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2429-4050)
- Duan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4351-9032)
- Jia‐Chen Zhao
- Zan‐Yang Xing
Institutions
- Shandong University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (NO)
- Institute of Space Sciences (ES)
- National Space Science Center (CN)
- University of Bergen (NO)
- University of Reading (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics
- Published
- 2026-06-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2026ja035425
- Primary Topic
- Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation