Ionospheric heating, upwelling, and depletions in auroral current systems

Details Ionospheric heating, upwelling, and depletions in auroral current systems Ionospheric heating, upwelling, and depletions in auroral current systems

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm24b..05z&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM24B-05

Physics

[2407] Ionosphere / Auroral Ionosphere, [2463] Ionosphere / Plasma Convection, [2736] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

This research investigates aspects of ionospheric dynamics relevant to magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling in auroral arc current systems. Auroral electric fields and particle precipitation deposit energy in the ionosphere, often resulting in enhanced ion or electron temperatures. This heating has a wide variety of consequences for the ionosphere. High ion temperatures alter chemical balance in the lower F-region, resulting in conversion to a molecular ion plasma, faster recombination, and plasma depletions. Pressure enhancements resulting from both ion and electron heating are capable of generating intense ion upflows. Ion upflow and depletion processes redistribute and structure the auroral plasma in ways that are likely of consequence to wave coupling of the magnetosphere and ionosphere. These implications are examined through the use of a fluid-kinetic model of the auroral ionosphere and new incoherent scatter radar data analysis techniques. Results indicate that enhanced recombination of molecular ions in auroral downward current regions may work in concert with well-known electrodynamic depletion processes, in the F-region ionosphere. Furthermore, ionospheric upflows in auroral upward and downward current regions may be quite different in terms of intensity and types of upflowing ions.

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