Saturation of the electric field transmitted to the magnetosphere

We reexamined the processes leading to saturation of the electric field, transmitted into the Earth's ionosphere from the solar wind, incorporating features of the coupled system previously ignored. We took into account that the electric field is transmitted into the ionosphere through a region of open field lines, and that the ionospheric conductivity in the polar cap and auroral zone may be different. Penetration of the electric field into the magnetosphere is linked with the generation of the Alfven wave, going out from the ionosphere into the solar wind and being coupled with the field‐aligned currents at the boundary of the open field limes. The electric field of the outgoing Alfven wave reduces the original electric field and provides the saturation effect in the electric field and currents during strong geomagnetic disturbances, associated with increasing ionospheric conductivity. The electric field and field‐aligned currents of this Alfven wave are dependent on the ionospheric and solar wind parameters and may significantly affect the electric field and field‐aligned currents, generated in the polar ionosphere. Estimating the magnitude of the saturation effect in the electric field and field‐aligned currents allows us to improve the correlation between solar wind parameters and resulting disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere.