How does space weather affect the interpretation of high-latitude satellite electric field measurements?

Earth's ionospheric electric field is a key parameter needed to understand our upper atmosphere's interaction with the near-Earth space environment. The interpretation of satelite measurements of the electric field is affected by the variability of the solar wind and magnetosphere. The European Space Agency's Swarm satellite mission measures high-latitude geoelectric fields to estimate the geoelectric potential in the polar ionosphere. It has been found that the high-latitude geoelectric potential derived from Swarm measurements is often not conservative. This feature often manifests as unexpectedly large differences in the geoelectric potential at the boundary of the polar cap. We investigated the possible role of time-variability of the solar wind and magnetosphere in creating these geoelectric potential differences. We found no clear correlation between Swarm geoelectric potential measurements and historical solar wind and magnetospheric measurements. We discuss the significance of these results for the role that space weather plays in the interpretation of satellite electric field measurements.