The Earth's neutral atmosphere is the driver of the well-known solar quiet (Sq) and other magnetic variations observed for more than 100 years. Yet the understanding of how the neutral wind can accomplish a dynamo effect has been incomplete. A new viable model is presented where a dynamo effect is obtained only in the case of winds perpendicular to the magnetic field B that do not map along B. Winds where u×B is constant have no effect. We identify Sq as being driven by wind differences at magnetically conjugate points and not by a neutral wind per se. The view of two different but entangled dynamos is favoured, with some conceptual analogy to quantum mechanical states. Because of the large preponderance of the neutral gas mass over the ionized component in the Earth's ionosphere, the dominant effect of the plasma adjusting to the winds is Joule heating. The amount of global Joule heating power from Sq is estimated, with uncertainties, to be much lower than Joule heating from ionosphere–magnetosphere coupling at high latitudes in periods of strong geomagnetic activity. However, on average both contributions could be relatively comparable. The global contribution of heating by ionizing solar radiation in the same height range should be 2–3 orders of magnitude larger.

中文翻译：

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地球电离层中纠缠的动力和焦耳热

地球的中性大气是众所周知的太阳静（Sq）和100多年来观察到的其他磁场变化的驱动因素。然而，对中性风如何实现发电机效果的理解还不完整。提出了一种新的可行模型，其中仅在垂直于磁场B的风不沿B映射的情况下，才能获得发电机效果。风在u × B是常数没有作用。我们将Sq确定为由磁共轭点处的风差驱动，而不是由中性风本身驱动。两种不同但纠缠在一起的动力学观点受到支持，它们在概念上类似于量子力学态。由于中性气体质量占地球电离层中电离组分的大部分，因此等离子对风的调节的主要作用是焦耳热。在不确定的情况下，估计来自Sq的全球焦耳热功率远低于在强地磁活动时期高纬度电离层-磁层耦合的焦耳热。但是，平均而言，两种贡献都可以相对比较。