In-Transit Thermal Ionospheric Oxygen (O+) Ions Between the Ionosphere and the Plasma Sheet and Ring Current

Details In-Transit Thermal Ionospheric Oxygen (O+) Ions Between the Ionosphere and the Plasma Sheet and Ring Current In-Transit Thermal Ionospheric Oxygen (O+) Ions Between the Ionosphere and the Plasma Sheet and Ring Current

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsm44a..04y&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SM44A-04

Physics

[2431] Ionosphere / Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions, [2736] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

The prompt appearance of energetic O+ ions in the ring current in the growth phase of a magnetic storm raises the interesting question of the possible role of "in-transit" ionospheric O+ ions between the ionosphere and the plasma sheet and ring current both in and immediately preceding the main phase of a magnetic storm. We present case studies of oxygen ion transport from the high-altitude polar ionosphere in the quiet-time periods immediately preceding a number of large magnetic storms (Dst < -100 nT), using single-particle trajectory simulations in conjunction with Akebono ion measurements and related IMF and convection electric field data. On Akebono, low-energy O+ ions are often observed at quiet times in the high-altitude auroral and polar cap ionosphere above 7000 km altitude, at temperatures of ˜0.2-0.3 eV and flow velocities of a few km/s. Our simulation study shows that the centrifugal acceleration of a portion of the observed ions at higher altitudes (above ˜3 RE altitude) results in a low but non-negligible quiet-time O+ ion flux in the "pipeline" between the ionosphere and the plasma sheet and ring current that is dependent on IMF: the flow is enhanced and confined to lower L-shells at times of strongly southward IMF compared with times of northward IMF, and its rate to the plasma sheet is found to correlate strongly with the O+ ion temperature. We believe the low-energy flow constitutes a significant "in-transit" population of oxygen ions between the ionosphere and the inner magnetosphere in the quiet-time period preceding a magnetic storm, and this could explain the prompt appearance of O+ ions in the growth phase of a storm, when the heavy ions could potentially modify the evolution of the ring current.

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