The fine-scale structure of the outer plasmasphere

Details The fine-scale structure of the outer plasmasphere The fine-scale structure of the outer plasmasphere

May 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995jgr...100.8021m&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 100, no. A5, p. 8021-8029

Physics

40

Fine Structure, Geosynchronous Orbits, Ion Density (Concentration), Plasma Temperature, Plasmas (Physics), Plasmasphere, Electric Fields, Geomagnetism, Kp Index, Magnetic Storms, Plasma Density

Scientific paper

The density and temperature structure of the low-energy ion population in the outer plasmasphere is examined by using data from Los Alamos National Laboratory's three-dimensional magnetospheric plasma analyzer at synchronous orbit. We define the 'outer plasmasphere' as regions of dense, cold plasma observed at synchronous orbit, with no attempt to distinguish between the main plasmasphere or detahced plasma regions existing beyond the plasmapause. We find that for moderate to high levels of geomagentic activity the outer plasmasphere typically has a fine-scale structure. The amount of variability in the density generally increases with increasing geomagnetic activity, as indicated by Kp, and the most variable intervals are associated with substorm activity. The dense greater than 10 ions/cu cm, cold approximately equal to 1 eV), plasmaspherelike plasma is adjacent to, and often interspersed with, low-density (1-10 ions/cu cm), warm (2-10 eV), 'troughlike' plasma regions. We find that occassionally these two temperature populations can coexist, but that most often they do not. The scale size of the fine-scale structure in the dense, cold plasma regions often is of the order of 1000 km or less. These observations suggest that fine-scale density structure in the dusk sector of the outer plasmasphere is imposed by penetrating substorm electric fields.

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