HR: 0800h
AN: SM51B-1293    [Abstracts]
TI: Case Study of the Seeds and Evolution Auroral Ion Upflow From the SIERRA Sounding Rocket
AU: * Lynch, K A
EM: kristina.lynch@dartmouth.edu
AF: Dartmouth College, Dept of Physics and Astronomy HB 6127, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AU: LaBelle, J
EM: james.labelle@dartmouth.edu
AF: Dartmouth College, Dept of Physics and Astronomy HB 6127, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AU: Samara, M
EM: msamara@swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Rd, San Antonio, TX 78238 United States
AU: Arnoldy, R
EM: roger.arnoldy@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, Space Science Center, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AU: MacDonald, E
EM: macdonald@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Lab, Space Science and Applications Group, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Klatt, E
EM: ek59@cornell.edu
AF: Cornell University, School of Electrical Engineering, Ithaca, NY 14853 United States
AU: Kintner, P
EM: pmk1@cornell.edu
AF: Cornell University, School of Electrical Engineering, Ithaca, NY 14853 United States
AB: The SIERRA nightside auroral sounding rocket made observations of the origins of ion upflow, at low altitudes (below 700 km), low scale height (densities above 20,000/cc), and low energies (10 eV.) Upflowing ions with bulk velocities up to 2 km/s are seen in conjunction with the poleward edge of a nightside substorm arc. The upflow is limited within the poleward edge to a region (a) of northward convection and (b) where Alfvenic and Pedersen conductivities are well-matched, leading to good ionospheric transmission of Alfvenic power. Also throughout the poleward edge, precipitation of moderate-energy (100s of eV) protons and oxygen is observed. This population is interpreted as reflection from a higher altitude field aligned potential of upgoing transversely heated ion conics. Details of this case study observation of the seeds and evolution of auroral ion outflow are presented as an example for testing of models of ionospheric/magnetospheric coupling.
DE: 2431 Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions (2736)
DE: 2481 Topside ionosphere
DE: 2704 Auroral phenomena (2407)
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005