Plasma transport in the auroral return current region

Details Plasma transport in the auroral return current region Plasma transport in the auroral return current region

Aug 1987

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987jgr....92.8673g&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 92, Aug. 1, 1987, p. 8673-8690. Navy-NASA-supported research.

Physics

81

Auroral Zones, Ionospheric Currents, Magnetospheric Ion Density, Solar Terrestrial Interactions, Space Plasmas, Field Aligned Currents, Hydrogen Ions, Ion Cyclotron Radiation, Ion Temperature, Solar Wind, Time Dependence

Scientific paper

The classical and anomalous transport properties of a multifluid plasma consisting of H(+), O(+), and electron populations in the presence of auroral field-aligned return currents are investigated, using a multimoment fluid model with anomalous transport coefficients. The macroscopic effects of the electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) instability and of an EIC-related anomalous resistivity mechanism which heats the electrons are included in the present version of the model. The responses of the outflowing polar wind plasma to the application of current, with and without instabilities, are exhibited. The simulations show that the electron drift velocity corresponding to a return current of 0.65 micro-A/sq m is above the threshold for EIC waves. Downward electron heat flow competes with upward convection and adiabatic effects to determine the direction of the electron temperature anisotropy. Resistive electron heating lowers the critical drift velocity for marginal EIC stability and leads to enhanced ion heating.

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