Storm-substorm relations and high latitude currents Original Research Article

The distribution of high latitude magnetospheric plasma pressure including regions of plasma pressure plateaus are analyzed. The structure of high latitude currents is discussed. It is shown that the existence of the effective eastward ring current can help to overcome one of the main difficulties of the understanding of storm-substorm relations - the decrease of the absolute value of Dst during substorm injections of accelerated particles in the inner magnetosphere regions. The reanalysis of Region 1 current mapping show thata aquasi-ring high latitude transverse current is the most probable source of Region 1 currents.