A Comparison of Equatorial Electrojet in Peru and East Brazil

Abstract

The paper describes the characteristics of the equatorial electrojet at Huancayo (HUA, 12.1 o S, 75.3 o W, inclination 1.5 o N, declination 1.0 o E) in western side of South America, where the geomagnetic field is aligned almost along the geographic meridian, and at Itinga (ITI, 4.3 o S, 47.0 o W, inclination 1.4 o N, declination 19.3 o W) in eastern part of South America, where the geomagnetic field is aligned about 19 o west of the geographic meridian; although the mean intensity of the magnetic field in the two regions are almost of the same order. Further comparisons are made of the current at Itinga and at Tatuoca (TTB, 1.2 o S, 48.5 o W, inclination 7.8 o N, declination 18.7 o W), a low latitude station in the same longitude sector. The daily range of horizontal component of the geomagnetic field, H, is shown to be almost 16% higher at HUA compared to that at ITI. The daily variation of the eastward field, Y, showed a strong minimum of -40 nT around 13-14 hr LT at ITI whereas very low values were observed at HUA with a positive peak of about 4 nT around 11- 12 hr LT. The vertical field, Z, showed abnormally large negative values of -70 nT at TTB around 13 hr LT. The day-to- day fluctuations of midday and midnight values of X field were positively correlated between HUA and ITI with a high correlation coefficient of 0.78 and 0.88 respectively. Values of Y field were also significantly positively correlated between HUA and ITI for midnight hours (0.72), while no correlation was observed for the midday hours. The midnight values of X field at HUA, ITI and TTB showed significant (0.90 or greater) correlation with Dst index. Correlation values of about 0.7 were observed between Dst and midday values of X at ITI and TTB and to a lesser degree (0.4) at HUA.