Fountain-like flow of heavy oxygen ions from the Earth´s ionosphere in response to transverse heating

Author

Singh, Nagendra

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Alabama Univ., Huntsville, AL, USA

Volume

24

Issue

1

fYear

1996

fDate

2/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

18

Lastpage

19

Abstract

Normally, the gravitationally bound heavy O⁺ ions in the Earth´s ionosphere are in a diffusive equilibrium. However, when energized to superthermal energies of a few electron volts transverse to the geomagnetic field, the combined effects of the downward gravitational and the upward electric and mirror forces produce interesting flow patterns in the vertical direction, as in a pulsating fountain. This flow pattern is studied by means of a particle-in-cell code

Keywords

ionosphere; oxygen; plasma flow; plasma heating; plasma simulation; plasma transport processes; positive ions; Earth ionosphere; O; diffusive equilibrium; downward gravitational forces; flow pattern; geomagnetic field; heavy O⁺ fountain-like flow; mirror forces; particle-in-cell code; superthermal energies; transverse heating; upward electric forces; Earth; Geomagnetism; Gravity; Ionosphere; Mirrors; Oxygen; Plasma properties; Plasma sources; Polarization; Space heating;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.491669

Filename

491669