Spatial structure and gradients of ion beams observed by FAST

Details Spatial structure and gradients of ion beams observed by FAST Spatial structure and gradients of ion beams observed by FAST

Jun 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998georl..25.2021m&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 25, Issue 12, p. 2021-2024

Physics

49

Magnetospheric Physics: Auroral Phenomena, Magnetospheric Physics: Electric Fields, Ionosphere: Particle Acceleration

Scientific paper

High time resolution measurements of ion distributions by the FAST satellite have revealed kilometer scale spatial structure in the low altitude auroral acceleration region. The low altitude edge of the acceleration region appears to contain fingers of potential that extend hundreds of kilometers along B but are only a few to tens of kilometers wide. These fingers of potential do not appear to be strongly correlated with the local current or total potential drop. Gradients in the ion beam energy are found to be consistent with the electric field signatures expected in the quasi-static potential drop model of auroral acceleration. Typical ion beams show gradients of 0.5-1.0 keV/km, with some events as large a 3 keV/km. Integrations of the electric field along the spacecraft velocity are used to calculate parallel potential below FAST and are found to agree well with the ion beam energy for most events. One event is shown where an apparent temporal change in the auroral configuration occurs at the edge of the ion beam producing a disagreement between the beam energy and inferred potential.

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