The Impact of Adaptive High-Latitude Coordinates

The high-latitude ionosphere can be divided into three regions dominated by different types of coupling and characterized by distinctive behaviors. These are the polar cap, the auroral region, and the sub-auroral region. Their locations are highly variable, changing in extent in response to driving conditions in the solar wind and within the magnetosphere. We discuss how defining high-latitude coordinates relative to the boundaries between these physically significant regions (adaptive co-ordinates) has major implications for statistical studies, modeling applications, and research combining magnetospheric and ionospheric data. We explore the impact of using adaptive co-ordinates for statistical analyses of ionospheric vorticity, showing how using adaptive co-ordinate systems provides a clearer picture of the latitudinal variation of vorticity, and how peaks and troughs in vorticity relate to the boundary locations.