Impact of induced field on the estimation of the ionospheric electric field

The ionospheric plasma electric field plays an important role in space physics and space meteorology, and it constitutes an essential physics magnitude for all phenomena occurring in the ionosphere, such as plasma convection, wave–particle interactions, and wave emissions. We used the direct measurements of DEMETER satellite which gives the total electric field, i.e., natural and induced fields, to show the effect of the induced field on the total electric field measurements. For that purpose, the induced electric field, generated by the satellite motion through the Earth’s magnetic lines, is calculated by selecting different velocity satellite and geomagnetic field components. The induced field is calculated by using two different methods: one according to the satellite different axes and the other by using the double-probe method. It is found that the calculated induced electric field dominates on the total electric measurements, therefore leadings to misestimation of the true value of ionospheric electric field.