Eastward transients in the dayside ionosphere. I. Electrodynamics on closed field lines

At night in Earth's polar regions, energetic aurorae frequently penetrate into the atmosphere, with the peculiar effect of driving turbulent electrojet currents in the bottomside ionosphere. During the day, however, Earth's plasma environment becomes highly conductive, owing to the constant flux of extreme ultraviolet radiation emitted from the Sun. The high-conductivity plasma in the dayside ionosphere can effectively short out plasma turbulence around aurorae, and so electrojet turbulence is thought rare in the dayside high-latitude ionosphere. In this paper we show observations to the contrary. During the onset of the 23 April 2023 geomagnetic storm, we observed prolific small-scale plasma turbulence in the dayside E region on closed magnetic field lines just equatorward of the cusp. Using data from two orbiting satellites, we infer the locations of the cusp and the distributed presence of diffuse aurorae, through observations of electron fluxes and wave-particle interactions near the magnetospheric equator, on nearby magnetic field lines. The resulting diffuse aurorae pass electric fields and produce unstable gradients in the plasma density. The number and intensity of the falling charges momentarily overwhelm the capacity of the lower ionosphere to extinguish the strong electric fields that follow from this action, spurring the growth of transient, turbulent electrojets, or Hall currents. In the 23 April 2023 case study, we establish a correlation between observations of chorus-wave activity near the magnetospheric equator and observations of turbulent electrojets in the ionosphere on closed magnetic field lines, from which we infer a causal chain where magnetospheric plasma waves ultimately drive small-scale turbulence in the ionosphere. We show how the predictions are brought to fruition in similar supporting events. Finally, we briefly discuss the implications that this discovery bears for the electrodynamics of the dayside ionosphere. In the following paper [M. F. Ivarsen, Phys. Rev. E 112, 045203 (2025)10.1103/3bzj-bsf8] we follow the lengthy argument to a logical conclusion, leading to an alternative description of electrodynamics in the cusp region.