The Composition of Plasma inside Geostationary Orbit Based on Van Allen Probes Observations
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- Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
- Boston Univ., MA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Boston Univ., MA (United States)
- Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States). Applied Physics Lab.
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- New Jersey Inst. of Technology, Newark, NJ (United States)
- Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
The composition of the inner magnetosphere is of great importance for determining the plasma pressure, and thus the currents and magnetic field configuration. In this study, we perform a statistical survey of equatorial plasma pressure distributions and investigate the relative contributions of ions and electron with different energies inside of geostationary orbit under two AE levels based on over sixty months of observations from the HOPE and RBSPICE mass spectrometers on board Van Allen Probes. We find that the total and partial pressures of different species increase significantly at high AE levels with Hydrogen (H+) pressure being dominant in the plasmasphere. The pressures of the heavy ions and electrons increase outside the plasmapause and develop a strong dawn-dusk asymmetry with ion pressures peaking at dusk and electron pressure peaking at dawn. In addition, ring current H+ with energies ranging from 50 keV up to several hundred keV is the dominant component of plasma pressure during both quiet (> 90%) and active times (> 60%), while Oxygen (O+) with 10 < E < 50 keV and electrons with 0.1 < E < 40 keV become important during active times contributing more than 25% and 20% on the nightside, respectively, while the Helium (He+) contribution is generally small. The results presented in this study provide a global picture of the equatorial plasma pressure distributions and the associated contributions from different species with different energy ranges, which advance our knowledge of wave generation and provide models with a systematic baseline of plasma composition.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- OSTI ID:
- 1558206
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-18-28971
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics, Vol. 123, Issue 8; ISSN 2169-9380
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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