A recent auroral sounding rocket mission provides the unique opportunity to study the spatial structure of electric currents in the ionosphere. The sounding rocket, Auroral Turbulence II, split into three slowly separating payloads, each carrying a scientific sub-nT noise magnetometer. The three-point measurement of the magnetic field allows a true measurement of the curl of B, yielding the current density j, without making assumptions about the structure (sheet, filament) of the current system.
In this paper we present observations of current
structures seen on this mission. We compare observations
of the curl of B using the spatial separation
of the different payloads ( 
),
to observations using a single payload and its
known velocity vector ( 
).
Discrepancies between the two calculations indicate
deviations from a purely sheet current structure.