Relationship of the SAPPHIRE‐North merged velocity and the plasma convection velocity derived from simultaneous SuperDARN radar measurements

Data taken during joint observations using the 50-MHz Saskatchewan Auroral Polarimetric Phased Ionospheric Radar Experiment (SAPPHIRE)-North radar and the HF Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radars are combined to investigate the relationship between the merged velocity derived from SAPPHIRE measurements and the plasma convection velocity inferred from SuperDARN measurements. Only events with broad and smooth type 2-like SAPPHIRE echoes were considered. In magnitude, SAPPHIRE merged velocities were found to be about 3 times less than SuperDARN convection velocities. In azimuth, the merged and convection velocities differed by less than 30° for most of the events. Thus the SAPPHIRE radar system can be used for rough estimations of the plasma convection direction but not the magnitude of the convection.