Magnetospheric signature of some F layer positive storms
Calculations using a self-consistent model of the global thermosphere-ionosphere system perturbed by high-latitude thermospheric heating show that the resultant electron density disturbances within the mid-latitude F layer can propagate upward along magnetic field lines to the equator. The F layer disturbances described by the model calculations correspond to the evolution of enhancements or reductions in electron density that is called the positive or negative phase of an F layer storm. We deduce that the positive phase of dayside F layer storms is initiated when high-latitude thermospheric heating generates equatorward winds. These winds raise the mid-latitude F layer along the geomagnetic field B through momentum transfer from neutral atoms to F layer ons that pull electrons with them. For Lapprox.3 or less the upward movement of ionospheric plasma results in ionization increases at all altitudes along B from the F2 maximum to the equator. An increase in the average magnitude of the equatorial dawn-dusk magnetospheric electric field retards the dayside development of a positive storm phase by drifting plasma away from mid-latitude field lines along which the electron density is increasing. During an F layer storm in June 1972, instruments on Explorer 45 and Ariel 4 detected dayside electron density enhancements simultaneously at 550 km over mid-latitudes and near the equatorial plane in the magnetosphere. These in situ measurements support the model prediction that disturbances in the magnetospheric plasma near the equator can arise through interactions occuring at lower altitudes along a magnetic field line. Our study demonstrates that some storm time enhancements of dayside magnetospheric plasma near Lapprox.2--3 may be signatures of the positive phase of an F layer storm.
- Research Organization:
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Planetary Atmosphere, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
- OSTI ID:
- 6443979
- Journal Information:
- J. Geophys. Res.; (United States), Vol. 86:A5
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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