Physics
Scientific paper
May 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agusmsm33a..05z&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2008, abstract #SM33A-05
Physics
2407 Auroral Ionosphere (2704), 2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2455 Particle Precipitation, 2704 Auroral Phenomena (2407), 7859 Transport Processes
Scientific paper
The auroral zone ionosphere is an important source of heavy ions to the magnetosphere. At ionospheric altitudes, pressure increases (ion upflow) move large quantities of plasma into the transition region where ions can be energized to escape velocity (ion outflow). It is necessary to characterize the source of upflowing plasma to the transition region since it may modulate the intensity of ion outflows which constitute inner boundary conditions in some MHD models. Both ISR and low-orbiting satellites routinely perform single-point measurements of upflow, but neither are able to resolve both the temporal variability and the composition of the upflowing plasma. Multi-fluid models of the ionosphere can provide both plasma composition and dynamics vs. space and time, but the principal drivers of ion upflow (usually precipitating electrons) must be externally imposed on the simulations. In this work we seek to address these issues in a verifiable way via a novel combination of optical remote sensing and multi-fluid modeling. This work presents a technique to estimate the time evolution and composition of upflowing plasma with minimal assumptions about the precipitating electron source. This technique involves two steps: (1) spectroscopic observations of the aurora used to estimate the precipitating electron energy distribution and temporal variability (2) The derived precipitation is then used as input to a multi-fluid/kinetic model of the ionosphere (TRANSCAR) to estimate the resulting plasma upflow. This success of this technique is demonstrated by using optical and ISR data from a PBI event occurring over Sondrestrom, Greenland. Estimates for the upflow of various species (H+, N+, O+, N2+, NO+ and O2+) during the event are presented and the dynamic evolution of the topside ionosphere is examined. Analysis of this event suggests several factors that may influence the composition and response of the upflowing plasma. These factors are further explored with TRANSCAR and their implications for M-I coupling are discussed.
Azeem I.
Blelly P.
Gleisner Hans
Mende Stephen
Semeter Joshua
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