Effect of Diurnal Convection on Trapped Thermal Plasma in the Outer Plasmasphere.

Abstract

A kinetic, multi species model of the plasmasphere is constructed which includes the effect of convection and corotation electric fields on trapped particles in drifting flux tubes. The resulting morphology of the outer plasmasphere is significantly different from that obtained using the assumption of diffusive equilibrium. The difference is due primarily to the contraction and expansion of the region of phase space accessible to the trapped particles, and has implications for the interpretation of remote sensing experiments.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 18, 1997
Accession Number
ADA324458

Entities

People

  • D. J. Melendez-alvira
  • G. Ganguli
  • J. A. Fedder
  • M. A. Reynolds

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheres
  • Convection
  • Distribution Functions
  • Electric Fields
  • Electron Density
  • Electrons
  • Fluids
  • Ion Density
  • Ions
  • Latitude
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Military Research
  • Particles
  • Planets
  • Plasmas (Physics)
  • Plasmasphere
  • Potential Energy

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster