Low-energy particle layer outside of the plasma sheet boundary

Journal Article · Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/91JA02391· OSTI ID:5398334

Parks, G K; McCarthy, M; Werden, S ^[1]; Fitzenreiter, R; Ogilvie, K W ^[2]; Huang, C; Frank, L ^[3]; Anderson, K A; Lin, R P ^[4]; Dandouras, J; Reme, H; Sauvaud, J A ^[5]

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1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle (United States)
2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
3. Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City (United States)
4. Univ. of California, Berkeley (United States)
5. Centre d'Etude Spatiale de Rayonnement, Toulousse (France)

The ISEE spacecraft in the geomagnetic tail frequently crossed the high-latitude boundary of the plasma sheet. On a number of these crossings on the morningside (between 15 R{sub E} and 22 R{sub E}) the ISEE instruments detected an enhanced population of low-energy electrons and ions immediately adjacent to the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL). The electrons in this low-energy layer (LEL) have energies less than a few hundred eV, and they are aligned along the magnetic field direction propagating in the tailward direction. These particles are clearly distinguished from the bulk of the particles in the plasma sheet and the PSBL. These observations may help clarify where the various particle features in the geomagnetic tail map to in the ionosphere. It is suggested that the LEL maps to the soft (<1 keV) electron precipitation region poleward of the plasma sheet boundary.

• OSTI ID: 5398334
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 97:A3; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
PLASMA SHEET
BOUNDARY LAYERS
ELECTRON DENSITY
ION DENSITY
COLLISIONLESS PLASMA
DYNAMICS
ELECTRON PRECIPITATION
EXPLORER SATELLITES
ION DRIFT
IONOSPHERE
MAGNETOTAIL
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
CHARGED-PARTICLE PRECIPITATION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
LAYERS
MECHANICS
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
PLASMA
SATELLITES
661320* - Auroral
Ionospheric
&amp; Magnetospheric Phenomena- (1992-)