The relationships between spatial and temporal variations in magnetic and electric fields in the high latitude ionosphere

Spatial and temporal structures contribute to the overall electric and magnetic field signals measured by satellites. Distinguishing between the contribution of each to the total signal is instrumental in understanding the form of the coupling between the magnetosphere and ionosphere. The spatial structure is in the form of static currents whereas the temporal structure is due to Alfven waves. To examine the temporal and spatial structures several diagnostic tools were examined. A nonzero phase angle difference between the electric (E) and magnetic fields (B) is indicative of either conductivity gradients or reflected Alfven waves. To examine the importance of conductivity gradients we examined the location of the correlation peak in frequency and time domains. The large scale current structure is given by the 0.75 Hz power spectral density of...