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Intermittency and Passive Scalar Nature of Electron Density Fluctuations in the High-Latitude Ionosphere at Swarm Altitude

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G. Consolini, P. De Michelis, T. Alberti, I. Coco, F. Giannattasio, R. Tozzi, and V. Carbone

The Sun interaction with the magnetosphere-ionosphere system can induce turbulent fluctuations in magnetic and electric fields and plasma density in the high-latitude ionosphere, particularly during geomagnetically disturbed periods. Here, we focus on the electron density fluctuations as observed by one of the satellites of the ESA Swarm constellation, and we show how such fluctuations are strongly intermittent in nature. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the anomalous scaling features of the electron density fluctuations are those expected for a passive scalar quantity in fluid turbulence.

Comparison among the observed qth-order scaling exponents 𝜁(q) and those reported in Ruiz-Chavarria et al., 1996 (https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-2789(96)00165-0); red dashed line is Kolmogorov’s K41 scaling.

Publication: G. Consolini, P. De Michelis, T. Alberti, I. Coco, F. Giannattasio, R. Tozzi, and V. Carbone, Intermittency and Passive Scalar Nature of Electron Density Fluctuations in the High-Latitude Ionosphere at Swarm Altitude, Geophys. Res. Lett., 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089628