Physics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sm51a11s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SM51A-11 INVITED
Physics
2431 Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions (2736), 2475 Polar Cap Ionosphere, 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
It is widely accepted that the ionosphere at high latitudes is an important source of magnetospheric plasma. The plasma, which flows up and out of the topside ionosphere along diverging geomagnetic field lines, consists of light thermal ions (H+, He+) and both light and heavy energized ions (H+, He+, N+, O+, N2+, NO+, O2+). The thermal ion upwellings are probably associated with the classical polar wind, which is driven by pressure variations at F-region altitudes, while the energized ions are probably associated with auroral energization processes and nonclassical polar wind mechanisms that operate at high altitudes. It is generally difficult to separate the auroral and nonclassical polar wind processes because the ionospheric plasma continually convects across the polar region, moving into and out of sunlight, the cusp, the polar cap, and the nocturnal auroral oval. Typically, the convection time across the polar cap is comparable to the time it takes the plasma to flow from low (500 km) to high (9000 km) altitudes, and during this time numerous processes can operate on the polar wind. In sunlit regions, the photoelectrons heat the thermal electrons at low altitudes, which leads to plasma upwelling, and at high altitudes the escaping photoelectrons act to accelerate the polar wind as they drag the thermal ions with them. In the auroral oval, the precipitating magnetospheric electrons heat the thermal electrons in a manner similar to the photoelectrons and this heating is augmented with ion heating resulting from wave-particle interactions, both of which induce plasma outflows. In the polar cap, additional energization mechanisms exist that extend from low to high altitudes, including Joule heating, hot magnetospheric electrons and ions, electromagnetic wave turbulence, and centrifugal acceleration. The effect that these processes have on the convecting high-latitude ionosphere will be reviewed.
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