We present the first multi‐instrumental results on the ionospheric response to the geomagnetic storm of 17–18 March 2015 (the St. Patrick's Day storm) that was up to now the strongest in the 24th solar cycle (minimum SYM‐H value of −233 nT). The storm caused complex effects around the globe. The most dramatic positive ionospheric storm occurred at low latitudes in the morning (~100–150% enhancement) and postsunset (~80–100% enhancement) sectors. These significant vertical total electron content increases were observed in different local time sectors and at different universal time, but around the same area of the Eastern Pacific region, which indicates a regional impact of storm drivers. Our analysis revealed that this particular region was most concerned by the increase in the thermospheric O/N2 ratio. At midlatitudes, we observe inverse hemispheric asymmetries that occurred, despite the equinoctial period, in different longitudinal regions. In the European‐African sector, positive storm signatures were observed in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), whereas in the American sector, a large positive storm occurred in the Southern Hemisphere, while the NH experienced a negative storm. The observed asymmetries can be partly explained by the thermospheric composition changes and partly by the hemispherically different nondipolar portions of the geomagnetic field as well as by the IMF By component variations. At high latitudes, negative ionospheric storm effects were recorded in all longitudinal regions, especially the NH of the Asian sector was concerned. The negative storm phase developed globally on 18 March at the beginning of the recovery phase.

Abstract. We have used vector measurements of the electron drift velocity made by the Electron Drift Instrument (EDI) on Cluster between February 2001 and March 2006 to derive statistical maps of the high-latitude plasma convection. The EDI measurements, obtained at geocentric distances between ~4 and ~20 RE over both hemispheres, are mapped into the polar ionosphere, and sorted according to the clock-angle of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), measured at ACE and propagated to Earth, using best estimates of the orientation of the IMF variations. Only intervals of stable IMF are used, based on the magnitude of a "bias-vector" constructed from 30-min averages. The resulting data set consists of a total of 5862 h of EDI data. Contour maps of the electric potential in the polar ionosphere are subsequently derived from the mapped and averaged ionospheric drift vectors. Comparison with published statistical results based on Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar and low-altitude satellite measurements shows excellent agreement between the average convection patterns, and in particular the lack of mirror-symmetry between the effects of positive and negative IMF By, the appearance of a duskward flow component for strongly southward IMF, and the general weakening of the average flows and potentials for northerly IMF directions. This agreement lends credence to the validity of the assumption underlying the mapping of the EDI data, namely that magnetic field lines are equipotentials. For strongly northward IMF the mapped EDI data show the clear emergence of two counter-rotating lobe cells with a channel of sunward flow between them. The total potential drops across the polar caps obtained from the mapped EDI data are intermediate between the radar and the low-altitude satellite results.

Originally published as:Doornbos, E., van den Ijssel, J., Lühr, H., Förster, M., Koppenwallner, G. (2010): Neutral density and crosswind determination from arbitrarily oriented multi-axis accelerometers on satellites. adjacent days where the satellite was in its nominal attitude mode. These investigations result in recommendations for the design of future satellite accelerometer missions for thermosphere research.

Abstract. Neutral thermospheric wind pattern at high latitudes obtained from cross-track acceleration measurements of the CHAMP satellite above both North and South polar regions are statistically analyzed in their dependence on the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) direction in the GSM y-z plane (clock angle). We compare this dependency with magnetospheric convection pattern obtained from the Cluster EDI plasma drift measurements under the same sorting conditions. The IMF-dependency shows some similarity with the corresponding high-latitude plasma convection insofar that the larger-scale convection cells, in particular the round-shaped dusk cell for ByIMF+ (ByIMF−) conditions at the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere, leave their marks on the dominant general transpolar wind circulation from the dayside to the nightside. The direction of the transpolar circulation is generally deflected toward a duskward flow, in particular in the evening to nighttime sector. The degree of deflection correlates with the IMF clock angle. It is larger for ByIMF+ than for ByIMF− and is systematically larger (~5°) and appear less structured at the Southern Hemisphere compared with the Northern. Thermospheric cross-polar wind amplitudes are largest for BzIMF−/ByIMF− conditions at the Northern Hemisphere, but for BzIMF−/ByIMF+ conditions at the Southern because the magnetospheric convection is in favour of largest wind accelerations over the polar cap under these conditions. The overall variance of the thermospheric wind magnitude at Southern high latitudes is larger than for the Northern. This is probably due to a larger "stirring effect" at the Southern Hemisphere because of the larger distance between the geographic and geomagnetic frameworks.

The solar-wind magnetosphere interaction primarily occurs at altitudes where the dipole component of Earth's magnetic field is dominating. The disturbances that are created in this interaction propagate along magnetic field lines and interact with the ionospherethermosphere system. At ionospheric altitudes, the Earth's field deviates significantly from a dipole. North-South asymmetries in the magnetic field imply that the magnetosphereionosphere-thermosphere (M-I-T) coupling is different in the two hemispheres. In this paper we review the primary differences in the magnetic field at polar latitudes, and the consequences that these have for the M-I-T coupling. We focus on two interhemispheric differences which are thought to have the strongest effects: 1) A difference in the offset between magnetic and geographic poles in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and 2) differences in the magnetic field strength at magnetically conjugate regions. These asym-KML, SEM, SH, and JPR were supported by the Research Council of Norway/CoE under contract 223252/F50. IC was supported by a fellowship of the Natural Environment Research Council, grant number NE/J018058/1. NP was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation AGS-1522830. JCC was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant NE/L007177/1. We acknowledge the International Space Science Institute for support for our international team on "Magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere coupling: differences and similarities between the two hemispheres." metries lead to differences in plasma convection, neutral winds, total electron content, ion outflow, ionospheric currents and auroral precipitation.