Magnetic Impulse Events: Statistical Study and Relations to Interplanetary Conditions

Theoretical models of the possible ionospheric signatures of sporadic dayside reconnection predict Hall current loops in the ionosphere which would produce abrupt, few minute changes in the vertical component of the magnetic field at near-cusp latitude observing stations. These variations in the magnetic field can appear as traveling ionospheric vortices and are produced by field-aligned currents terminating in the ionosphere.