In order to investigate the effect of non-uniform ionospheric conductivity distributions on high-latitude magnetic pulsations, a general method based on the Fourier expansion is developed. The method is applied to the incidence of Alfvén waves with a horizontal wave length of the order of the characteristic width of the non-uniform region. It is found that if at least one of the height-integrated Pedersen and Hall conductivities has a non-uniform horizontal distribution, a new component of the ground magnetic field due to non-uniformity is built up and becomes comparable to the ordinary component free from non-uniformity in a large conductivity gradient. The phase of the new component of the ground magnetic field shifts about 90° from that of the ordinary component. It is also found that the non-uniformity does not affect the distribution of the field-aligned current so much as that of the ground magnetic field.
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Itonaga et al. (1988) studied this question.