IMAGE/HENA and MENA Observations during Storms: Implications for Strong Electric Fields at L<4? Brandt, P. C:son, D. G. Mitchell, M. Liemohn, S. Ohtani, E. C. Roelof, R. Demajistre Data from HENA and MENA during storm main phases, often show intense ion distributions confined to the dawn-midnight sector and L<4. The morphology tends to be the same for the entire 1-200 keV range. This implies that there is a deep electric potential minimum that can prevent the >10 keV ions to drift with maintained energy passed dusk. Since the ~1 keV ions are dominated by the electric drifts, it is clear that the inferred electric field configuration must be directed radially outward on the dawn side and perhaps have a significant (several mV/m) eastward component around dusk. We present ion distributions derived from HENA and ENA images from MENA for several different storms: 4 Oct 2000, 11-12 Aug 2000, 21 Oct 2001. We compare the data to kinetic model runs by Liemohn using a equatorial potential derived from Ridley and Liemohn [2001]. This potential show ~mV/m electric fields at L<4 generated by the closure of the region 2 currents. We conclude a general agreement and discuss agreements with other observations (CRESS etc.). Our findings may have strong impact on understanding the consistent asymmetry of the ring current and may prove helpful to kinetic modeling in this field. _______________ To be presented at the Magnetospheric Imaging Workshop, Yosemite National Park, California, U.S.A., Feb. 5-8, 2002.