Estimating the Circulation and Net Plasma Loss from Ionospheric Outflow

Details Estimating the Circulation and Net Plasma Loss from Ionospheric Outflow Estimating the Circulation and Net Plasma Loss from Ionospheric Outflow

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm33a1886h&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM33A-1886

Physics

Plasma Physics

[2431] Ionosphere / Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions, [2776] Magnetospheric Physics / Polar Cap Phenomena, [7894] Space Plasma Physics / Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

An important source of magnetospheric plasma is outflow from the terrestrial ionosphere. Low energy ions travel along the magnetic field lines and enter the magnetospheric lobes and are convected towards the tail plasma sheet. Results from Cluster indicate that the field aligned outflow velocity is sometimes much higher than the convection towards the central plasma sheet. A substantial amount of plasma therefore escape downtail without ever reaching the central plasma sheet. In this work, we use Cluster measurements of the ionospheric outflow and lobe convection velocities combined with a model of the magnetic field in an attempt to quantify the plasma loss for various magnetospheric conditions. The results show that both the circulation of plasma but also the tailward escape of ions increase significantly during disturbed magnetospheric conditions. For strong solar wind driving with a southward interplanetary magnetic field, also typically associated with high geomagnetic activity, most of the outflowing plasma are convected to the plasma sheet and recirculated. For periods with northward interplanetary magnetic field, the convection is nearly stagnant, whereas the outflow, although limited, still persist. During such conditions, the outflowing ions escape downtail and are lost into the solar wind.

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