Ion-Kinetic Tail Processes and Associated Ionospheric Signatures

Details Ion-Kinetic Tail Processes and Associated Ionospheric Signatures Ion-Kinetic Tail Processes and Associated Ionospheric Signatures

Dec 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufmsm31c..04k&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #SM31C-04

Physics

2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, 2744 Magnetotail, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, 7843 Numerical Simulation Studies

Scientific paper

The ionosphere plays an active role in shaping the dynamic processes of the magnetosphere and the magnetotail. Clearly, simulations of the magnetosphere and the magnetotail can provide a much more realistic picture and explanation of observed phenomena when a proper ionospheric coupling model is included. Just what constitutes such a model depends on the spatial and temporal scales under investigation. In current global simulations, it is typically assumed that the tail-ionosphere interaction traverses a sequence of quasi-equilibrium states, thus only resolving time scales larger than the Alfvén transit times along the field lines. Moreover, when based on MHD, simulations also do not describe spatial ion scales. However, temporal and spatial signatures exist on all scales down to the ion kinetic scales, and many ground-based and satellite imaging observation techniques can resolve such scales when mapped from the tail to the ionosphere. Yet, to date, a complete and valid dynamic description of the relevant interaction processes with the ionosphere does not exist on these scales. As a first step towards such a model, we are investigating ion-scale tail processes that leave discernable signatures in the ionosphere. We are investigating the initial development of near-tail reconnection using large-scale, three-dimensional hybrid simulations (kinetic ions, electron fluid). The source for the ionospheric perturbations is the field-aligned current at the earthward boundary of our simulations. We image the parallel currents into and out of the ionosphere, and, for comparison, calculate the instantaneous Ohmic dissipation that would be present in an equilibrium situation, solving the standard ionospheric potential equation. The results are discussed in the framework of observations and future coupling models.

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