Power transmission from the solar wind-magneto-sphere dynamo to the magnetosphere and to the ionosphere: analysis of the IMS Alaska meridian chain data

It is shown that the power epsilon generated by the solar wind-magnetosphere dynamo is transmitted to the convective motion of magnetospheric plasma. This convective motion generates what we may call the 'Pedersen counterpart currents' in the magnetosphere and drives a large part of the 'region 1 and 2' field-aligned currents which closed by the Pedersen currents in the ionosphere. These results are based on a self-consistent set of the ionospheric current and potential distribution patterns obtained from a study of the International Magnetosphere Study Alaska meridian chain data. (author)