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1.
More than 30 years after the prediction of the polar wind outflow from the high latitude ionosphere, the exact magnitude and ultimate fate of the ionospheric plasma supply remains unknown. Estimates made more than a decade ago suggested that the polar ion outflow might well be of sufficient strength to populate the different regions of the Earth’s magnetosphere. Direct measurements in the high altitude magnetosphere became possible only with the launch of the Polar spacecraft. The combination of the Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment and the Plasma Source Instrument has revealed the presence of low energy (<10 eV) ions moving through the polar regions and into the lobes of the magnetotail. These ions would have been invisible to previous un-neutralized satellites because of the high positive spacecraft potentials. Through the use of a recently developed single particle trajectory and energization code, the movement and energy transformation of these measured particles can be estimated. They are found to move into the plasma sheet region and to be energized to typical plasma sheet energies. The magnitude of the flux of the highly variable out-flowing ions mapped to 1000 km altitude is 1 − 3 × 108 ions/cm2 s in agreement with the original estimates. Future observations by the TIDE/PSI instruments will be required to determine the extent of the total ionospheric contribution.  相似文献   

2.
Recent observations have quantified the auroral wind O+ outflow in response to magnetospheric inputs to the ionosphere, notably Poynting energy flux and precipitating electron density. For moderate to high activity periods, ionospheric O+ is observed to become a significant or dominant component of plasma pressure in the inner plasma sheet and ring current regions. Using a global circulation model of magnetospheric fields and its imposed ionospheric boundary conditions, we evaluate the global ionospheric plasma response to local magnetospheric conditions imposed by the simulation and evaluate magnetospheric circulation of solar wind H+, polar wind H+, and auroral wind O+. We launch and track the motions of millions of test particles in the global fields, launched at randomly distributed positions and times. Each particle is launched with a flux weighting and perpendicular and parallel energies randomly selected from defined thermal ranges appropriate to the launch point. One sequence is driven by a two-hour period of southward interplanetary magnetic field for average solar wind intensity. A second is driven by a 2-h period of enhanced solar wind dynamic pressure for average interplanetary field. We find that the simulated ionospheric O+ becomes a significant plasma pressure component in the inner plasma sheet and outer ring current region, particularly when the solar wind is intense or its magnetic field is southward directed. We infer that the reported empirical scalings of auroral wind O+ outflows are consistent with a substantial pressure contribution to the inner plasma sheet and plasma source surrounding the ring current. This result violates the common assumption that the ionospheric load is entirely confined to the F layer, and shows that the ionosphere is often an important dynamic element throughout the magnetosphere during moderate to large solar wind disturbances.  相似文献   

3.
We study the influence of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and convection electric field on the rate and destination of polar wind and other thermal (low-energy) ion outflows, and its resulting effects on magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling, using single-particle trajectory simulations in conjunction with ion velocity distribution measurements on Akebono and IMF and ionospheric convection data. We find that the ions preferentially feed the dusk sector of the plasma sheet when the IMF is duskward (By>0), and are more evenly distributed in the plasma sheet when the IMF is dawnward. The flow of oxygen ions originating from the noon or dusk sectors of the polar cap has a higher probability of reaching the magnetosphere and beyond compared with that from the dawn or midnight sectors, due to the increased centrifugal acceleration associated with the larger magnetic field curvature near noon and the increased convection electric field in the dusk sector. The flow is enhanced and confined to lower L-shells at times of strongly southward IMF, compared with that at times of northward IMF. The outflow rate to both the plasma sheet and the magnetotail correlates strongly with the ion temperature. As a result, the IMF and the convection electric fields affect both the overall magnitude and the detailed distribution of mass transfer from the ionosphere to the magnetosphere in magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling.  相似文献   

4.
Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The ion pressure in the regions of ionospheric projections of the plasma mantle, polar cusp, low-latitude boundary layer, and the region of structured precipitation of...  相似文献   

5.
The magnetosphere–ionosphere–thermosphere system at high latitudes is strongly coupled via electric fields, particle precipitation, plasma and neutral outflows, and field-aligned currents. Although the climatology of the coupled system is fairly well established, our understanding of the variability of the disturbed state (weather) is rudimentary. This variability is associated with magnetic storms and substorms, nonlinear processes that operate over a range of spatial scales, time delays, and feedback mechanisms between the different domains. The variability and resultant structure of the ionosphere can appear in the form of propagating plasma patches and polar wind jets, pulsing ion and neutral polar winds, auroral and boundary blobs, and ionization channels associated with polar cap arcs, discrete auroral arcs, and storm-enhanced densities (SEDs). The variability and structure of the thermosphere can appear in the form of propagating atmospheric holes, neutral gas fountains, neutral density patches, and transient neutral jets. In addition, during periods of enhanced plasma convection, the neutral winds can become supersonic in relatively narrow regions of the polar cap. The spatial structure in the ionosphere–thermosphere system not only affects the local environment, but the cumulative effect of multiple structures may affect the global circulation and energy balance. A focused topical review of recent results in our modeling the variability and structure of the high-latitude ionosphere–thermosphere system is presented. This review was given at the Greenland Space Science Symposium (May 2007).  相似文献   

6.
It is now well known that there is a substantial outflow of ionospheric plasma from the terrestrial ionosphere at high latitudes. The outflow consists of light thermal ions (H+, He+) as well as both light and heavy energized ions (H+, He+, O+, N+, NO+, O2+, N2+). The thermal ion outflows tend to be associated with the classical polar wind, while the energized ions are probably associated with either auroral energization processes or nonclassical polar wind processes. Part of the problem with identifying the exact cause of a given outflow relates to the fact that the ionosphere continuously convects into and out of the various high-latitude regions (sunlight, cusp, polar cap, nocturnal oval) and the time-constant for outflow is comparable to the convection time. Therefore, it is difficult to separate and quantify the possible outflow mechanisms. Some of these mechanisms are as follows. In sunlit regions, the photoelectrons can heat the thermal electrons and the elevated electron temperature acts to increase the polar wind outflow rate. At high altitudes, the escaping photoelectrons can also accelerate the polar wind as they drag the thermal ions with them. In the cusp and auroral oval, the precipitating magnetospheric electrons can heat the thermal electrons in a manner similar to the photoelectrons. Also, energized ions, in the form of beams and conics, can be created in association with field-aligned auroral currents and potential structures. The cusp ion beams and conics that have been convected into the polar cap can destabilize the polar wind when they pass through it at high altitudes, thereby transferring energy to the thermal ions. Additional energization mechanisms in the polar cap include Joule heating, hot magnetospheric electrons and ions, electromagnetic wave turbulence, and centrifugal acceleration.Some of these causes of ionospheric outflow will be briefly reviewed, with the emphasis on the recent simulations of polar wind dynamics in convecting flux tubes of plasma.  相似文献   

7.
We have investigated ion outflows observed by the Akebono satellite and the EISCAT radar in the nightside auroral region on February 16, 1993. The Akebono satellite at about 7000 km altitude observed the region of suprathermal ion outflows and inverted-V type electron precipitation alternately with a horizontal separation of 70–150 km at the ionospheric level. These two regions corresponded to the upward and downward field-aligned current region, respectively, and intense ELF waves were observed in the ion outflow region. From the EISCAT VHF radar observation (Common Program 7 mode), it has been suggested that the ion outflow region and the enhanced electron temperature region were aligned along geomagnetic field lines with vertical and horizontal separations of 200–400 and 70–80 km, respectively and these two regions convected equatorward across the EISCAT radar at Tromsø site. Based on these results, we propose a model for this ion outflow as follows. In the nightside auroral region, downward FAC regions exist near the edge of the inverted-V type electron precipitation regions. ELF waves are excited probably by a plasma instability due to the upward thermal electron beam carrying the downward FACs, and these ELF waves cause transverse ion heating at the top of the ionosphere. The produced ion conics contribute significantly to ion outflow.  相似文献   

8.
The possibility to estimate plasma sheet parameters from low-altitude measurements looks quite attractive, but it critically depends on how isotropic the plasma pressure is in the flux tube. To evaluate the ion pressure anisotropy we compare the values of pressure in the ionospheric and equatorial parts of the field line. Ionospheric values were computed from proton measurements at NOAA low-altitude satellites, they were compared with pressure estimates computed from empirical magnetic field models as well as with average values known from direct plasma sheet measurements. Three different methods of mapping the plasma pressure from plasma sheet to low altitude have been tried; each uses the particle isotropic boundaries observed at low altitudes and/or computed from magnetospheric models. Excluding observations obtained during substorm expansion, from these comparisons we conclude that in the plasma sheet, at geocentric distances 9–20RE, the pressure estimates in the ionospheric and equatorial parts of the plasma sheet flux tube agree very well, suggesting a good pressure isotropy and thus justifying a possibility to monitor the plasma sheet parameters based on low-altitude measurements. The results also illustrate the usefulness of isotropic boundaries as a label of tail current intensity and as reliable tool for establishing mapping between magnetosphere and ionosphere.  相似文献   

9.
While the plasma convection in the Earth's magnetosphere was for a long timeconsidered to consist mostly of laminar flows with wide spatial extents, about adecade ago the phenomenon of bursty bulk flows (BBFs), which now could beunderstood as long, but narrow channels of fast earthward plasma flow in thecentral plasma sheet of the magnetospheric tail, was discovered. Soon after thisit became clear that such events are not exceptional, but a large portion of theearthward plasma flow in the inner part of the magnetospheric tail is organisedin this bursty, intermittent mode. Since the Earth's magnetosphere is connectedby highly conducting magnetic field lines with its ionosphere, the next logicalstep was the search for the ionospheric signatures of BBFs. We review the resultsobtained so far in this young field of Space Physics, in terms of theauroral and ground magnetic signatures caused by BBFs, the particle precipitationto the ionosphere, as well as of the ionospheric electrodynamics of the processesassociated with the BBFs in the magnetosphere. Finally, we briefly review somemodels of ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling with respect to their ability to explainthe ionospheric signatures observed.  相似文献   

10.
We have used a global time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the magnetosphere and particle tracing calculations to determine the access of solar wind ions to the magnetosphere and the access of ionospheric O+ ions to the storm-time near-Earth plasma sheet and ring current during the September 24–25, 1998 magnetic storm. We found that both sources have access to the plasma sheet and ring current throughout the initial phase of the storm. Notably, the dawnside magnetosphere is magnetically open to the solar wind, allowing solar wind H+ ions direct access to the near-Earth plasma sheet and ring current. The supply of O+ ions from the dayside cusp to the plasma sheet varies because of changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure and in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Most significantly, ionospheric O+ from the dayside cusp loses access to the plasma sheet and ring current soon after the southward turning of the IMF, but recovers after the reconfiguration of the magnetosphere following the passage of the magnetic cloud. On average, during the first 3 h after the sudden storm commencement (SSC), the number density of solar wind H+ ions is a factor of 2–5 larger than the number density of ionospheric O+ ions in the plasma sheet and ring current. However, by 04:00 UT, ∼4 h after the SSC, O+ becomes the dominant species in the ring current and carries more energy density than H+ ions in both the plasma sheet and ring current.  相似文献   

11.
A discussion is given of plasma flows in the dawn and nightside high-latitude ionospheric regions during substorms occurring on a contracted auroral oval, as observed using the EISCAT CP-4-A experiment. Supporting data from the PACE radar, Greenland magnetometer chain, SAMNET magnetometers and geostationary satellites are compared to the EISCAT observations. On 4 October 1989 a weak substorm with initial expansion phase onset signatures at 0030 UT, resulted in the convection reversal boundary observed by EISCAT (at \sim0415 MLT) contracting rapidly poleward, causing a band of elevated ionospheric ion temperatures and a localised plasma density depletion. This polar cap contraction event is shown to be associated with various substorm signatures; Pi2 pulsations at mid-latitudes, magnetic bays in the midnight sector and particle injections at geosynchronous orbit. A similar event was observed on the following day around 0230 UT (\sim0515 MLT) with the unusual and significant difference that two convection reversals were observed, both contracting poleward. We show that this feature is not an ionospheric signature of two active reconnection neutral lines as predicted by the near-Earth neutral model before the plasmoid is “pinched off”, and present two alternative explanations in terms of (1) viscous and lobe circulation cells and (2) polar cap contraction during northward IMF. The voltage associated with the anti-sunward flow between the reversals reaches a maximum of 13 kV during the substorm expansion phase. This suggests it to be associated with the polar cap contraction and caused by the reconnection of open flux in the geomagnetic tail which has mimicked “viscous-like” momentum transfer across the magnetopause.  相似文献   

12.
联合利用EISCAT和E-Svalbard非相干散射雷达数据,研究l997年5月强磁暴期间向阳侧极盖与极光椭圆区电离层F区负暴.发现在磁暴主相和恢复相初期,极光椭圆和极盖区电离层都在大约l90km高度出现类似F1的峰,F2主峰完全消失,F区电子密度大幅度下降.但离子温度的变化在两个区域很不相同,在极光椭圆区大幅度升高,而在极盖区没有显著变化,反映出引起F区负暴的主要机制在两个区域不尽相同.强对流电场引起大气焦耳加热与离子增温而使O+离子消失的化学反应速率增大所导致的电离损失,对极光椭圆区负暴起主要作用;而输运过程,特别是持续长达数小时的沿场上行离子流,对极盖区负暴起重要作用.磁暴主相期间,当EISCAT雷达位于等离子体对流涡旋转换区下方时,在无焦耳加热与离子摩擦增温的情况下,观测到由顶部电离层O+离子沿场高速外流引起的F区电子密度耗空.  相似文献   

13.
Particles leaving the neutral sheet in the distant magnetotail at times display adiabatic trajectory sequences characterized by an inflection toward the equator and subsequent mirroring in its vicinity. We demonstrate that this low-latitude mirroring results primarily from a centrifugal deceleration due to the fast direction-changing E×B drift. This effect which we refer to as “centrifugal trapping” appears both in guiding centre and full particle treatments. It thus does not directly relate to nonadiabatic motion. However, pitch angle scattering due to nonadiabatic neutral sheet interaction does play a role in reducing the parallel speed of the particles. We show that centrifugal trapping is an important mechanism for the confinement of the slowest (typically below the equatorial E×B drift speed) plasma sheet populations to the midplane vicinity.  相似文献   

14.
Measuring the low-energy ions in the Earth's magnetotail lobes is difficult, because a spacecraft becomes positively charged in a sunlit and tenuous plasma environment. Recent studies have introduced a new method, making use of the positive electric potential on the Cluster spacecraft, to measure the low-energy ions(less than a few tens of electronvolts) in the polar caps/magnetotail lobes in the years 2001–2010. With the measured velocities, we are able to study the trajectories of these low-energy ions. Particle tracing has been used in previous studies, confirming that ions of ionospheric origin are the dominant contributor to the ion population in the Earth's magnetotail lobes. In this work, we continue to study the source of low-energy ions measured in the lobes. We found that not all of the low-energy ions in the lobes come directly from the ionosphere. Particle tracing infers that some of the low-energy ions start to move tailward from the cusp/near-cusp region with a zero parallel velocity. In the following, we refer to these low-energy ions as stagnant low-energy ions. On the other hand, the in situ measurements by Cluster show a population of low-energy ions in the cusp/near-cusp region with pitch angles near 90°(i.e., no significant parallel velocity).The locations of stagnant low-energy ions are determined by particle tracing and in situ measurements. Similar ion energies and spatial distributions determined by these two methods confirm the presence of the stagnant low-energy ion population.  相似文献   

15.
Polar regionSq     
Geomagnetically quiet day variations in the polar region are reviewed with respect to geomagnetic field variation, ionospheric plasma convection, electric field and current. Persistently existing field-aligned currents are the main source of the polar regionSq. Consequently, the morphology and variability of the polar regionSq largely depend upon both field-aligned currents and ionospheric conductivity. Since field-aligned currents are the major linkage between the ionosphere and the magnetosphere, the latter is controlled by solar wind state, in particular, the interplanetary magnetic field, the polar regionSq exhibits remarkable IMF dependence.  相似文献   

16.
The magnetotail lobes are two vast regions between the plasma sheet (PS) and the magnetotail boundary layers at the magnetopause, where the plasma has very low temperature and densities. The open magnetic field lines of the lobes directly couple the ionospheric polar caps with the solar wind (SW) through the magnetosheath. The survey of 576 h INTERBALL-1 measurements in the near (XGSM>−27RE) lobes in October–November 1997 shows that they are populated with plasmas of various origin and properties. Presented and discussed in details are four cases of lobe measurements under different geomagnetic conditions. Discrete plasma structures encountered in the lobes could originate from the PS, from the magnetosheath or the mantle. A ubiquitous picture in the lobes is the registration of ‘clouds’ of anisotropic electrons with energies up to 300–500 eV, with no accompanying ions. The electron distributions are highly variable and complex, with different degree of anisotropy. The earthward flowing electrons originate in the SW, the anisotropy of the electron fluxes reflects the anisotropy of the SW electrons. In some cases the tailward electrons are not only mirrored earthward fluxes but an additional source earthward of the observations is present. The positive spacecraft potential plays a substantial role in modifying the observed electron distributions.  相似文献   

17.
The plasma sheet moves earthward (equatorward in the ionosphere) after enhancements in convection, and the electrodynamics of this response is strongly influenced by Region 2 magnetosphere–ionosphere coupling. We have used Poker Flat Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR) observations associated with two relatively abrupt southward turnings of the IMF to provide an initial evaluation of aspects of this response. The observations show that strong westward sub-auroral polarization streams (SAPS) flow regions moved equatorward as the plasma sheet electron precipitation (the diffuse aurora) penetrated equatorward following the IMF southward turnings. Consistent with our identification of these flows as SAPS, concurrent DMSP particle precipitation measurements show the equatorial boundary of ion precipitation equatorward of the electron precipitation boundary and that westward flows lie within the low-conductivity region between the two boundaries where the plasma sheet ion pressure gradient is expected to drive downward R2 currents. Evidence for these downward currents is seen in the DMSP magnetometer observations. Preliminary examination indicates that the SAPS response seen in the examples presented here may be common. However, detailed analysis will be required for many more events to reliably determine if this is the case. If so, it would imply that SAPS are frequently an important aspect of the inner magnetospheric electric field distribution, and that they are critical for understanding the response of the magnetosphere–ionosphere system to enhancements in convection, including understanding the earthward penetration of the plasma sheet. This earthward penetration is critical to geomagnetic disturbance phenomena such as the substorm growth phase and the formation of the stormtime ring current. Additionally, for one example, a prompt electric field response to the IMF southward turnings is seen within the inner plasma sheet.  相似文献   

18.
New observations of energetic helium ion fluxes in the Earth’s radiation belts have been obtained with the CAMMICE/HIT instrument on the ISTP/GGS POLAR spacecraft during the extended geomagnetically low activity period April through October 1996. POLAR executes a high inclination trajectory that crosses over both polar cap regions and passes over the geomagnetic equator in the heart of the radiation belts. The latter attribute makes possible direct observations of nearly the full equatorial helium ion pitch angle distributions in the heart of the Earth’s radiation belt region. Additionally, the spacecraft often re-encounters the same geomagnetic flux tube at a substantially off-equatorial location within a few tens of minutes prior to or after the equatorial crossing. This makes both the equatorial pitch angle distribution and an expanded view of the local off-equatorial pitch angle distribution observable. The orbit of POLAR also permitted observations to be made in conjugate magnetic local time sectors over the course of the same day, and this afforded direct comparison of observations on diametrically opposite locations in the Earth’s radiation belt region at closely spaced times. Results from four helium ion data channels covering ion kinetic energies from 520 to 8200 KeV show that the distributions display trapped particle characteristics with angular flux peaks for equatorially mirroring particles as one might reasonably expect. However, the helium ion pitch angle distributions generally flattened out for equatorial pitch angles below about 45°. Significant and systematic helium ion anisotropy difference at conjugate magnetic local time were also observed, and we report quiet time azimuthal variations of the anisotropy index.  相似文献   

19.
Three models for the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling feedback instability are considered. The first model is based on demagnetization of hot ions in the plasma sheet. The instability takes place in the global magnetosphere-ionosphere system when magnetospheric electrons drift through a spatial gradient of hot magnetospheric ion population. Such a situation exists on the inner and outer edges of the plasma sheet where relatively cold magnetospheric electrons move earthward through a radial gradient of hot ions. This leads to the formation of field-aligned currents. The effect of upward field-aligned current on particle precipitation and the magnitude of ionospheric conductivity leads to the instability of this earthward convection and to its division into convection streams oriented at some angle with respect to the initial convection direction. The growth rate of the instability is maximum for structures with sizes less than the ion Larmor radius in the equatorial plane. This may lead to formation of auroral arcs with widths about 10 km. This instability explains many features of such arcs, including their conjugacy in opposite hemispheres. However, it cannot explain the very high growth rates of some auroral arcs and very narrow arcs. For such arcs another type of instability must be considered. In the other two models the instability arises because of the generation of Alfven waves from growing arc-like structures in the ionospheric conductivity. One model is based on the modulation of precipitating electrons by field-aligned currents of the upward moving Alfven wave. The other model takes into consideration the reflection of Alfven waves from a maximum in the Alfven velocity at an altitude of about 3000 km. The growth of structures in both models takes place when the ionization function associated with upward field-aligned current is shifted from the edges of enhanced conductivity structures toward their centers. Such a shift arises because the structures move at a velocity different from the E × B drift. Although both models may work, the growth rate for the model, based on the modulation of the precipitating accelerated electrons, is significantly larger than that of the model based on the Alfven wave reflection. This mechanism is suitable for generation of auroral arcs with widths of about 1 km and less. The growth rate of the instability can be as large as 1 s-1, and this mechanism enables us to justify the development of auroral arcs only in one ionosphere. It is hardly suitable for excitation of wide and conjugate auroral arcs, but it may be responsible for the formation of small-scale structures inside a wide arc.Polar Geophysical Institute, Apatity, Russia  相似文献   

20.
The work describes experimental observations of enhancements in the electron density of the ionospheric F-region created by cusp/cleft particle precipitation at the dayside entry to the polar-cap convection flow. Measurements by meridian scanning photometer and all-sky camera of optical red-line emissions from aurora are used to identify latitudinally narrow bands of soft-particle precipitation responsible for structured enhancements in electron density determined from images obtained by radio tomography. Two examples are discussed in which the electron density features with size scales and magnitudes commensurate with those of patches are shown to be formed by precipitation at the entry region to the anti-sunward flow. In one case the spectrum of the incoming particles results in ionisation being created, for the most part below 250 km, so that the patch will persist only for minutes after convecting away from the auroral source region. However in a second example, at a time when the plasma density of the solar wind was particularly high, a substantial part of the particle-induced enhancement formed above 250 km. It is suggested that, with the reduced recombination loss in the upper F-region, this structure will retain form as a patch during passage in the anti-sunward flow across the polar cap.  相似文献   

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