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It is known that the solar component is difficult to find in a climatic signal due to its small size and significant internal random disturbances of the climatic system, such as variations in cloudiness, precipitation, winds, and oceanic currents. In the center of the polar cap, these disturbances are as minimal as possible; therefore, solving the inverse heat conduction problem, we can calculate the informative heat flux through the ice cover based on temperature data. Variations in the heat flux are quite significant in amplitude (0.2–0.3 W/m 2) and coincide with the 11-year solar cycle in phase. Application of this approach to the indices of the global and sea surface temperatures cannot yield a solar signal, yet it can be traced for solar cycles with big amplitude (cycles 19 and 21). Thus, the found variation in the heat flux is most probably caused by a change in the solar constant (TSI); however, other mechanisms are also possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have analyzed variations in the near-surface atmospheric electric field ( Ez) normalized to their daily averages that were simultaneously observed in different high-latitude regions at moderate geomagnetic activity ( Kp ∼ 3). The Ez data were measured under fair weather conditions at the Vostok Antarctic research station (Φ′ = −83.5°) in the southern polar cap and at the Hornsund Arctic observatory (Φ′ = 74.0°) on Svalbard close to the polar boundary of the auroral oval in the Northern Hemisphere. It is established that variations in the atmospheric electric field in the polar cap region at the Vostok station are controlled (the correlation coefficient R ∼ 0.7-0.9) by variations in the overhead ionospheric potential. The situation at the Hornsund observatory is more complicated. During intervals when Hornsund occurred below the westward electrojet, the correlation was typically positive with R ∼ 0.60-0.85; however, while this observatory was in the region of the eastern electrojet, the correlation could be negative with R ∼ 0.7-0.8. Normally, during such periods, the westward electrojet was detected polarwards of Hornsund while, according to the SuperDARN radar data, the observatory was located below the negative vortex of the polar ionospheric convection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]