ION-NEUTRAL COUPLING IN THE HIGH-LATITUDE F-REGION - EVALUATION OF ION HEATING TERMS FROM DYNAMICS EXPLORER-2

Data from several instruments aboard the Dynamics Explorer 2 satellite have been used to perform a study of the details of ion-neutral dynamical coupling in the high-latitude summer F region. Direct measurements of ion and neutral vector winds have been made for a set of polar passes of the spacecraft and have been discussed in the light of supporting observations of the composition and kinetic temperatures of both neutral and ionic constituents. The comprehensive nature of the data set has enabled the dynamical, thermodynamical, and compositional aspects of ion-neutral coupling to be investigated experimentally. The measurements have also been used to perform an experimental test of the standard approximate form of the ion energy balance equation.