Smooth electron density transition from the plasmasphere to the subauroral region

Details Smooth electron density transition from the plasmasphere to the subauroral region Smooth electron density transition from the plasmasphere to the subauroral region

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsm31a0310t&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SM31A-0310

Computer Science

Sound

2730 Magnetosphere: Inner, 2768 Plasmasphere, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

Upper hybrid resonance noise and continuum emissions were routinely detected by the radio plasma imager (RPI) onboard the IMAGE satellite when the IMAGE transited the plasmasphere and subauroral region (L > 10). The lower frequency cutoffs of those emissions provide an estimate of the electron plasma frequency along the satellite orbit. A steep electron density gradient, which defines the plasmapause, was commonly seen when IMAGE transited from the plasmasphere to the subauroral region or vice versa. It appears, however, that on many occasions the density transition between the plasmasphere and the subauroral region is smooth without a clear signature of the plasmapause. Such smooth transitions can occur at various magnetic local times. The smooth transitions were observed when geomagnetic activities had been quiet (with Kp < 2) for more than 4 days. In some smooth transition cases, sounding measurements of the field-aligned electron density profiles are available. Those field-aligned density profiles are extrapolated to the magnetic equator to infer the equatorial electron density variation with L shell. Based on the inferred equatorial density profiles we discuss the possible relation between the smooth density transitions and the convective instabilities. The present study shed new lights to the studies of the plasmapause formation and plasmasphere dynamics.

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