DISTRIBUTION IN MAGNETOTAIL OF O+ IONS FROM CUSP CLEFT IONOSPHERE - A POSSIBLE SUBSTORM TRIGGER

The transport of O+ ions from the cusp/cleft ionosphere to the magnetotail during highly disturbed times was determined by computing the guiding-center trajectories of the ions to a distance of 6 R(E) from the ionosphere and the full-motion trajectories at later times. Case histories were tallied in six planes perpendicular to the X(GSM) axis, three planes perpendicular to the Y(GSM) axis, and in the center plane of the tail. At various times relative to the enhancement of the convection electric field, the following ion properties were constructed from the case histories: number density, mean energy, energy and pitch angle distributions of the flux, and ion pressure components parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. It was found that after about 1.7 hours the ion flux in the near-Earth magnetotail increased dramatically and the spectrum hardened, much as observed during periods just preceding substorms. This increase is attributed to (1) the increase in the O+ outflux from the ionosphere, (2) the increased energization of the ions by the convection electric field, and (3) ion trapping, which generally occurs because the ion magnetic moments generally increase after the ions first cross the geomagnetotail center plane. Moreover, the parallel pressure of the ions exceeds the energy density of the magnetic field at X(GSM) < -8 R(E). On the basis of the expected alterations of the magnetic and electric fields in response to this O+ pressure, a substorm trigger mechanism is suggested.