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Stormtime ring current heating of the plasmasphere and ionosphere
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  • Jonathan Krall,
  • Mei-Ching Fok,
  • Joseph Huba,
  • Alex Glocer
Jonathan Krall
US Naval Research Laboratory

Corresponding Author:jonathan.krall@nrl.navy.mil

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Mei-Ching Fok
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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Joseph Huba
Syntek Technologies
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Alex Glocer
NASA/GSFC
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Abstract

The energy deposition from ring current ions into the high density “cold” plasma of the ionosphere and plasmasphere is analyzed, based on a Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere-Ionosphere (CIMI) simulation of the 2015 October 7 storm. In this re-examination of ring current heating generating the observed O$^+$ shell in the outer plasmasphere [1], the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Sami3 is Also a Model of the Ionosphere (SAMI3) ionosphere/plasmasphere code [2] is used to simulate the effect of ring current heating on the ionosphere. We find that energy is deposited at altitudes as low as 100 km. We show that heating along the entirety of any given field line, both in the ionosphere and plasmasphere, contributes to the heating effect and subsequent cold O$^+$ outflows. We further show that, relative to the heating of the plasmasphere, the direct heating of the ionosphere by ring current ions produces only a small contribution to the thermal O$^+$ outflow that forms the O$^+$ shell. [1] Krall, J., J. D. Huba, and M.-C. Fok (2020), Does ring current heating generate the observed O$^+$ shell?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2020GL088419, doi:10.1029/2020GL088419 [2] Huba, J., and J. Krall (2013), Modeling the plasmasphere with SAMI3, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 6–10, doi:10.1029/2012GL054300 Research supported by NRL base funds and NASA.