The position of the Ion Isotropy Boundary relative to the inner edge of the Ion Plasma Sheet

Details The position of the Ion Isotropy Boundary relative to the inner edge of the Ion Plasma Sheet The position of the Ion Isotropy Boundary relative to the inner edge of the Ion Plasma Sheet

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsm33a2126g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SM33A-2126

Physics

[2407] Ionosphere / Auroral Ionosphere, [2431] Ionosphere / Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions, [2499] Ionosphere / General Or Miscellaneous, [2764] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Sheet

Scientific paper

Auroral boundaries are the ionospheric projections of sharp gradients of magnetospheric features. Two of these boundaries are the isotropy boundary (IB), which is the transition between strong pitch angle scattering and quasi-stable bounce trapping, and the inner edge of the ion plasma sheet, which likely corresponds to the equatorward termination of the double loss cone. An investigation into the locations of these two boundaries aids in our understanding of the relationship between auroral morphology and magnetospheric plasma populations, with the objectives of better understanding how convection shapes the inner magnetosphere plasma environment and identifying the magnetospheric counterparts to these auroral boundaries. We use ESA ion data from more than 10000 Fast Auroral Snapshot (FAST) night-side overflights of the auroral zone to explore the relative positions of the IB and the inner edge of the ion plasma sheet and their dependence on the local time as well as the magnetospheric state. Our results show that the inner edge of the ion plasma sheet extends earthward of the region of strong pitch angle scattering (and thus the IB). Furthermore, in terms of latitudinal separation in the ionosphere, the inner edge can be anywhere from 0 degrees (meaning the IB marks the earthward edge of the plasma sheet) to more than 5 degrees (meaning the plasma sheet extends significantly earthward of the IB). Recalling that the IB cannot be identified with in situ measurements near the equator, these results and consideration of magnetic flux conservation give us our first observational opportunity to explore where the strong pitch angle scattering cutoff is located in the equatorial magnetosphere.

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