New evidence of dayside plasma transportation over the polar cap to the prevailing dawn sector in the polar upper atmosphere for solar-maximum winter

It is well known that owing to the transport of high-density sunlit plasma from dayside to nightside primarily by convection, polar cap tongue of ionization (TOI), polar cap patches, and blobs are common features in the polar ionosphere. The steep density gradients at the edges of these structures lead to severe problems in applications involving radio waves traversing the ionosphere. To better understand the evolution of TOI/patches/blobs, it is essential to examine how the transported sunlit plasma is distributed. Through averaging the hourly total electron content in solar-maximum winter, we present complete distribution of polar ionospheric plasma and find that the dayside plasma can be transported through cusp, over polar cap, and eventually to the prevailing dawnside, showing asymmetric distribution around magnetic midnight. The negative interplanetary magnetic field B-y or B-z component is favored for the plasma transportation from dayside to the prevailing dawn sector. This provides direct evidence for the plasma source of the dawnside high-density plasma structure. The same corotating convection direction as convection at auroral dawnside is responsible for the prevailing dawn sector transportation. This finding is significant for forecasting TOI/patches/blobs in conducting space weather in the polar ionosphere.