Temperature of the plasmasphere from Van Allen Probes HOPE
Abstract
We introduce two novel techniques for estimating temperatures of very low energy space plasmas using, primarily, in situ data from an electrostatic analyzer mounted on a charged and moving spacecraft. The techniques are used to estimate proton temperatures during intervals where the bulk of the ion plasma is well below the energy bandpass of the analyzer. Both techniques assume that the plasma may be described by a one-dimensional $$→\atop{E}$$ x $$→\atop{B}$$ drifting Maxwellian and that the potential field and motion of the spacecraft may be accounted for in the simplest possible manner, i.e., by a linear shift of coordinates. The first technique involves the application of a constrained theoretical fit to a measured distribution function. The second technique involves the comparison of total and partial-energy number densities. Both techniques are applied to Van Allen Probes Helium, Oxygen, Proton, and Electron (HOPE) observations of the proton component of the plasmasphere during two orbits on 15 January 2013. We find that the temperatures calculated from these two order-of-magnitude-type techniques are in good agreement with typical ranges of the plasmaspheric temperature calculated using retarding potential analyzer-based measurements—generally between 0.2 and 2 eV (2000–20,000 K). We also find that the temperature is correlated with L shell and hot plasma density and is negatively correlated with the cold plasma density. Lastly, we posit that the latter of these three relationships may be indicative of collisional or wave-driven heating of the plasmasphere in the ring current overlap region. We note that these techniques may be easily applied to similar data sets or used for a variety of purposes.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[3];
[4];
[5];
[4];
[5];
[3]
- Univ. of Texas, San Antonio, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Southwest Research Inst. (SwRI), San Antonio, TX (United States). Space Science and Engineering Division; Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz (Austria). Space Research Inst.
- Univ. of Texas, San Antonio, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Southwest Research Inst. (SwRI), San Antonio, TX (United States). Space Science and Engineering Division
- Trinity Univ., San Antonio, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
- Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States). Space Science Center
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1499345
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1402341
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-16-23592
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9380
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9380
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics; plasmasphere; Van Allen Probes
Citation Formats
Genestreti, K. J., Goldstein, J., Corley, G. D., Farner, W., Kistler, L. M., Larsen, Brian Arthur, Mouikis, C. G., Ramnarace, C., Skoug, Ruth M., and Turner, N. E. Temperature of the plasmasphere from Van Allen Probes HOPE. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1002/2016JA023047.
Genestreti, K. J., Goldstein, J., Corley, G. D., Farner, W., Kistler, L. M., Larsen, Brian Arthur, Mouikis, C. G., Ramnarace, C., Skoug, Ruth M., & Turner, N. E. Temperature of the plasmasphere from Van Allen Probes HOPE. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JA023047
Genestreti, K. J., Goldstein, J., Corley, G. D., Farner, W., Kistler, L. M., Larsen, Brian Arthur, Mouikis, C. G., Ramnarace, C., Skoug, Ruth M., and Turner, N. E. Thu .
"Temperature of the plasmasphere from Van Allen Probes HOPE". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JA023047. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1499345.
@article{osti_1499345,
title = {Temperature of the plasmasphere from Van Allen Probes HOPE},
author = {Genestreti, K. J. and Goldstein, J. and Corley, G. D. and Farner, W. and Kistler, L. M. and Larsen, Brian Arthur and Mouikis, C. G. and Ramnarace, C. and Skoug, Ruth M. and Turner, N. E.},
abstractNote = {We introduce two novel techniques for estimating temperatures of very low energy space plasmas using, primarily, in situ data from an electrostatic analyzer mounted on a charged and moving spacecraft. The techniques are used to estimate proton temperatures during intervals where the bulk of the ion plasma is well below the energy bandpass of the analyzer. Both techniques assume that the plasma may be described by a one-dimensional $→\atop{E}$ x $→\atop{B}$ drifting Maxwellian and that the potential field and motion of the spacecraft may be accounted for in the simplest possible manner, i.e., by a linear shift of coordinates. The first technique involves the application of a constrained theoretical fit to a measured distribution function. The second technique involves the comparison of total and partial-energy number densities. Both techniques are applied to Van Allen Probes Helium, Oxygen, Proton, and Electron (HOPE) observations of the proton component of the plasmasphere during two orbits on 15 January 2013. We find that the temperatures calculated from these two order-of-magnitude-type techniques are in good agreement with typical ranges of the plasmaspheric temperature calculated using retarding potential analyzer-based measurements—generally between 0.2 and 2 eV (2000–20,000 K). We also find that the temperature is correlated with L shell and hot plasma density and is negatively correlated with the cold plasma density. Lastly, we posit that the latter of these three relationships may be indicative of collisional or wave-driven heating of the plasmasphere in the ring current overlap region. We note that these techniques may be easily applied to similar data sets or used for a variety of purposes.},
doi = {10.1002/2016JA023047},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics},
number = 1,
volume = 122,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 22 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Thu Dec 22 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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