Mapping high-latitude ionospheric electrodynamics with SuperDARN and AMPERE

This procedure incorporates the observations and their errors, as well as two background models and their error covariances (estimated through empirical orthogonal function analysis) to infer complete distributions of electrostatic potential and vector magnetic potential in the high-latitude ionosphere.

The assimilative technique also enables objective error analysis of the results. Various methods of specifying height-integrated ionospheric conductivity, which is required by the procedure, are implemented and evaluated quantitatively. The benefits of using both SuperDARN and AMPERE data to solve for both electrostatic and vector magnetic potentials, rather than using the data sets independently or solving for just electrostatic potential, are demonstrated.