Magnetospheric Plasma Studies Using Data from the Dynamics High and Low Altitude Plasma Instruments.
Abstract
Plasma measurements made on Dynamics Explorer 1 and 2 spacecraft are providing new information on the altitude dependence of polar-cap plasma populations, their sources, and the acceleration processes they undergo. This study found that the polar-rain electron population apparently exhibits no significant altitude dependence between altitudes of a few hundred to approximately 20,000 km. This result was expected from the magnetosheath-like energy spectrum of the low-altitude polar rain. In this case of the polar wind, a significant velocity increase was theoretically predicted to occur between the two spacecraft altitudes, and this effect was confirmed by DE-1 plasma measurements. A major result of this study of the accelerated polar wind is its significant conic component, which indicates that the ions are heated perpendicularly as they emerge from the polar-cap ionosphere. The gradual decrease in polar-wind energy observed to occur from the cusp across to the nightside polar cap suggests that the perpendicular heating process, probably in cyclotron waves, is most intense near the cusp region. Significant altitude effects are also observed in the plasmas that occupy magnetic flux tubes connected to polar-cap auroral arcs (or theta auroras). At DE-2, typical low-energy (approximately 100 eV) inverted-V electron distributtions are observed. At DE-1 the electron and positive-ion distribution functions are consistent with electrostatic potential drops that are at times below the typical DE-1 altitude of 15,000 to 20,000 km and at times above these altitudes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 15, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA145751
Entities
People
- J. N. Barfield
Organizations
- Southwest Research Institute