Summation of Distinct Sources of Hall and Pedersen Conductance

Ionospheric conductivity is one of the crucial parameters that determine the energy transfer from the magnetosphere into the upper atmosphere during geomagnetic storms. Conductance, which is the altitude integrated conductivity, is majorly controlled by solar irradiation and particle precipitation. Diffuse, monoenergetic and broadband precipitations have different sources of origin and along with the EUV radiation result in the total conductance of the ionosphere. The contribution of the different sources to the final observed conductance is known to be

∑_Total=√(∑_EUV² +∑_Diffuse² +∑_{Monoenergetic²}) + ∑_Broadband

In this study, this relationship is verified by solving for the Hall and Pedersen conductance using the Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (GITM). Different steady state simulations of GITM are run using the maps of average energy and number flux of each distinct source of precipitation for 05 April 2010. The contribution of EUV radiation is segregated from the pure auroral zone conductance by running different simulations for each source and also in combination with each other. Examination of the one-to-one relationship of each source to the total conductance indicates that every source follows a quadratic relationship as opposed to a combination of quadratic and linear summation. Further, the validity of the equation is explored for various latitudes of the auroral zone during the morning and afternoon sectors of the daytime. A robust set of metrics is computed to quantify the relationship between distinct sources of the electron precipitation and EUV radiation to the total Hall and Pedersen conductances.