CENTRIFUGAL ACCELERATION OF THE POLAR WIND

被引:76
作者
HORWITZ, JL
HO, CW
SCARBRO, HD
WILSON, GR
MOORE, TE
机构
[1] UNIV ALABAMA, CTR SPACE PLASMA & AERONOM RES, HUNTSVILLE, AL 35899 USA
[2] NASA, GEORGE C MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CTR, SPACE SCI LAB, HUNTSVILLE, AL 35812 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1029/94JA00924
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
The effect of parallel ion acceleration associated with convection was first applied to energization of test particle polar ions by Cladis (1986). However, this effect is typically neglected in ''self-consistent'' models of polar plasma outflow, apart from the fluid simulation by Swift [1990]. Here we include approximations for this acceleration, which we broadly characterize as centrifugal in nature, in our time-dependent, semikinetic model of polar plasma outflow and describe the effects on the bulk parameter profiles and distribution functions of H+ and O+. For meridional convection across the pole the approximate parallel force along a polar magnetic field line may be written as F(cent,pole) = 1.5m(E(i)/B(i))2(r2/r(i)3) where m is ion mass, r is geocentric distance; and E(i), B(i) and r(i) refer to the electric and magnetic field magnitudes and geocentric distance at the ionosphere, respectively. For purely longitidinal convection along a constant L shell the parallel force is F(cent,long) = F(cent,pole) [1-(r/(r(i)L)]3/2/[1-3r/(4r(i)L)]5/2. For high latitudes the difference between these two cases is relatively unimportant below approximately 5 R(E). We find that the steady state O+ bulk velocities and parallel temperatures strongly increase and decrease, respectively, with convection strength. In particular, the bulk velocities increase from near 0 km s-1 at 4000 km altitude to approximately 10 km s-1 at 5 R(E) geocentric distance for a 50-mV/m ionospheric convection electric field. However, the centrifugal effect on the steady O+ density profiles depends on the exobase ion and electron temperatures: for low-base temperatures (T(i) = T(e) = 3000 K) the O+ density at high altitudes increases greatly with convection, while for higher base temperatures (T(i) = 5000 K, T(e) = 9000 K), the high-altitude O+ density decreases somewhat as convection is enhanced. The centrifugal force further has a pronounced effect on the escaping O+ flux, especially for cool exobase conditions; as referenced to the 4000-km altitude, the steady state O+ flux increases from 10(5) ions cm-2 s-1 when the ionospheric convection field E(i) = 0 mV/m to approximately 10(7) ions cm-2 s-1 when E(i) = 100 mV/m. The centrifugal effect also decreases the time scale for approach to steady-state. For example, in the plasma expansion for T(i) = T(e) = 3000 K, the O+ density at 7 R(E) reaches only 10(-7) of its final value approximately 1.5 hours after expansion onset for E(i) = 0. For meridional convection driven by E(i) = 50 mV/m, the density at the same time after initial injection is 30-50% of its asymptotic level. The centrifugal acceleration described here is a possible explanation for the large (up to approximately 10 km s-1 or more) O+ outflow velocities observed in the midaltitude polar magnetosphere with the Dynamics Explorer 1 and Akebono spacecraft.
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收藏
页码:15051 / 15064
页数:14
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