Physics
Scientific paper
May 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agusmsm33a..06n&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2008, abstract #SM33A-06
Physics
2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions (2431), 7807 Charged Particle Motion And Acceleration, 7846 Plasma Energization, 7859 Transport Processes, 7867 Wave/Particle Interactions (2483, 6984)
Scientific paper
The cusp ionosphere is an important source of heavy ions for the Earth's magnetosphere. The upflow in the cusp ionosphere is mainly associated with cusp precipitation and bursts in the convection electric field. The upflowing ions are gravitationally bound and further energization is needed above the ionosphere for the ions to reach escape velocity. It is not clear which process is the liming factor for the total outflow. We present measurements of these cusp origin oxygen ions when they have reached high altitudes above the polar cap, at about 5 to 12 RE altitude. In this region the outflowing ions can be observed for several hours at a time by the Cluster spacecraft. This allows us to study the oxygen ion number flux variability on time scales of minutes to tens of minutes. The number flux typically show sudden enhancements with a separation of 5 to 10 minutes. This is similar to reported ionospheric upflow events associated with flux transfer event signatures in the ionosphere. We therefore suggest that the ionospheric upflow, observable for example by incoherent scatter radars, is the limiting factor of the oxygen flux at high altitude. We also show how significant further energization of the outflowing oxygen ions take place in the high altitude polar cap region. The role of centrifugal acceleration and perpendicular heating due to wave particle interaction is assessed. The close coupling of the parallel velocity of outflowing proton and oxygen ion fluxes is shown.
Marghitu Octav
Nilsson Hampus
Reme Henri
Stenberg Gabriella
Waara M.
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