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Does ring current heating generate the observed O$^+$ shell?
  • Jonathan Krall,
  • J.D. Huba,
  • Mei-Ching H. Fok
Jonathan Krall
Naval Research Laboratory

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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J.D. Huba
Syntek Technologies
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Mei-Ching H. Fok
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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Abstract

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Sami3 is Also a Model of the Ionosphere (SAMI3) ionosphere/plasmasphere code is used to examine the effect of ring current heating during a storm. With a ring current heating function added to SAMI3, a cold thermal ($< 1$ eV) oxygen ion outflow is produced, with O$^+$ density and location similar to observations of the so-called “oxygen torus.’ The ring current heating function is based on a Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere-Ionosphere (CIMI) model simulation of the 2015 October 7 storm. We find that the ring current can heat plasmasphere electrons, subsequently heating plasmasphere H$^+$, and ionosphere O$^+$. The resulting O$^+$ outflows resemble observed O$^+$ enhancements in the inner magnetosphere.
28 Jul 2020Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 47 issue 14. 10.1029/2020GL088419