HR: 0800h
AN: SM21A-0451    [Abstracts]
TI: Thermal N+ in the Inner Magnetosphere
AU: Craven, P
EM: paul.craven@nasa.gov
AF: NASA/MSFC, NSSTC/SD50, Huntsville, AL 35812 United States
AU: Moore, T
EM: thomas.e.moore@nasa.gov
AF: NASA/GSFC, Lab. for Extraterrestrial Physics/695, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Comfort, H
AF: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, CSPAR, Huntsville, AL 35899 United States
AU: * Gallagher, D
EM: dennis.l.gallagher@nasa.gov
AF: NASA/MSFC, NSSTC/SD50, Huntsville, AL 35812 United States
AB: There has been much interest in O+ in the magnetosphere since it was first reported in 1971. However, relatively little has been done with N+ even though it is the second most abundant ion in the ionosphere at the F2 peak. What observations there are show that there is a large range in the magnitude of the ratio of the N+ density to the O+ density, that N+ is a significant ion in the ionosphere, and that the concentration of this ion varies with season, time of day, solar cycle, latitude, and geomagnetic conditions. Most observational studies have not been used with a large database, nor have they been of a statistical nature. We use the DE1 RIMS observations to survey where N+ is found, in what concentrations relative to O+, and how this concentration varies with changes in the solar input, season, and time of day. We also gauge our understanding of N+ in the ionosphere and plasmasphere by comparing Field Line Inter-hemispheric Plasma (FLIP) model results with the observations.
DE: 2731 Magnetosphere--outer
DE: 2768 Plasmasphere
DE: 2799 General or miscellaneous
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting