The Composition of Plasma inside Geostationary Orbit Based on Van Allen Probes Observations

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Space physics 2018-08, Vol.123 (8), p.6478-6493
Main Authors: Yue, Chao, Bortnik, Jacob, Li, Wen, Ma, Qianli, Gkioulidou, Matina, Reeves, Geoffrey D., Wang, Chih‐Ping, Thorne, Richard M., Lui, Anthony T. Y., Gerrard, Andrew J., Spence, Harlan E., Mitchell, Donald G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Auroral electrojet
Electrojets
Electron pressure
Electrons
Geosynchronous orbits
Heavy ions
Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics
Helium
Hydrogen
ion composition
Ions
Magnetic field configurations
Magnetic fields
Magnetosphere
Magnetospheres
Mass spectrometers
Mass spectrometry
Oxygen
Plasma composition
Plasma pressure
Plasmapause
Plasmasphere
Probes
Radiation
Ring currents
Spectrometers
Storms
Wave generation
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Summary: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 auroral electrojet levels based on over 60 months of observations from the Helium, Oxygen, Proton, and Electron and Radiation Belt Storm Probes Ion Composition Experiment mass spectrometers onboard Van Allen Probes. We find that the total and partial pressures of different species increase significantly at high auroral electrojet levels with hydrogen 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 hydrogen 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 with 10 
ISSN:2169-9380
2169-9402
DOI:10.1029/2018JA025344