Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm24b..03s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM24B-03
Physics
[2431] Ionosphere / Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions, [2736] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions
Scientific paper
Previous studies have shown that ionospheric outflows are strongly dependent on the energy input to the topside ionosphere. One of the initial steps in generating outflows is ionospheric upwelling associated with an increase in the scale height of the ionosphere. The scale height increase can be either through Joule heating, where some fraction of the electromagnetic energy input to the ionosphere is converted to ion thermal energy, or electron energy deposition, where ionospheric electrons are first heated, and the resultant ambipolar electric field enhances the upwelling. These two types of enhanced upwelling have been referred to as Type 1 and Type 2 events on the basis of radar observations, corresponding to enhanced ion and electron heating respectively. In the past, the Joule dissipation has been assumed to be from quasi-static currents, with waves being invoked to provide the additional transverse heating required to convert upwelling, where the vertical velocity is less than the escape velocity, to outflows, where the mirror force accelerates the ions upwards at sufficiently high velocities to escape. It now appears that low frequency Alfvén waves may also contribute to the initial upwelling. What is less clear is whether or not the waves result in Type 1 events, through collisional Joule dissipation of the wave energy in the ionosphere, or two Type 2 events, where the Alfvén waves enhance the energy flux of precipitating electrons, through Joule dissipation at higher altitudes. We will review the various lines of evidence that allow us to elucidate the pathways for outflows. We will also address some remarks to the altitude dependence of the outflow processes, as well as the partitioning of the different energy dissipation pathways in the topside ionosphere.
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