Thermal proton flow in the plasmasphere: The morning sector |
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| Authors: | Peter M Banks Joe R Doupnik |
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| Institution: | Radioscience Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, U.S.A.;Department of Applied Physics and Information Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Vertical profiles of electron density obtained in the vicinity of the plasmapause using the Alouette-II topside sounder have been analyzed to assess the presence of H+ flow in the topside ionosphere. The observations in the midnight sector show clearly the presence of the plasmapause; i.e. there is a sharp boundary separating the poleward regions of polar wind H+ flow and the more gentle conditions of the plasmasphere where light ions are present in abundance. In contrast, in the sunlit morning sector upwards H+ flow is deduced to be present to invariant latitudes as low as 48° (L = 2·2) in the regions normally known to be well inside the plasmasphere. The upwards H+ flux is sufficiently large (3 × 108 ions cm?2 sec?1) that the plasmapause cannot be seen in the latitudinal electron density contours of the topside ionosphere. The cause for this flow remains unknown but it may be a result of a diurnal refilling process. |
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