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A model of alignment of the field-aligned current generator system in the disturbed magnetosphere is proposed. It has been found that Pedersen currents in the disturbed ionosphere of the auroral oval are meridional. They connect oppositely directed field-aligned currents (FACs) of two adjacent Iijima and Potemra (IP) regions. This supplements the dominant concept of currents in the literature, in which a substorm current wedge plays a major role. During the considered substorm, graphs have been obtained of changes in FAC intensities in each of the three Iijima and Potemra regions of the Northern Hemisphere. These new data suggest that during a disturbance, the Region 1 FAC and the sum of regions 2 and 0 FACs remain equal. The equality means that these three generators form a unified system. Inequalities of intensities between two FACs of different sign simultaneously observed in the dawn and dusk sectors have also been detected in each IP region. A conceptual model is proposed for the formation of this dawn-dusk asymmetry. In the model, in addition to FACs that close up in the ionosphere of the Northern Hemisphere, FACs connecting the two hemispheres are also presented. The conclusion is justified that the global magnetospheric dynamo operates as a voltage generator under relatively quiet (average) conditions, as during storms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simplest theory of electric circuits is applied to analysis of the observed large-scale electric field and currents in a disturbed magnetosphere-ionosphere system. Maps of distribution of field-aligned currents (FACs) obtained from ground-based magnetic measurements using the original magnetogram inversion method (MIT) and measurements by satellites were used. A method for circuit determination according to the data of such maps based on the detection of spatial R.N inhomogeneities in each of three Iijima and Potemra FAC zones is proposed. The results of the new method are used to describe some electric field and current generators not known before, new types of current systems in tail lobes and plasma sheet, and the formation and dynamics of new types of three-dimensional systems with auroral electrojets and meridional ionospheric Pedersen current, which have not been paid due attention in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]