HR: 0800h
AN: SM21A-0458    [Abstracts]
TI: Field Line Dependence of the Mass Density and Electron Density
AU: * Denton, R E
EM: Richard.E.Denton@dartmouth.edu
AF: Dartmouth College, Department of Physics and Astronomy; 6127 Wilder Lab, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AU: Takahashi, K
EM: Kazue.Takahashi@jhuapl.edu
AF: Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Lab; 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723-6099 United States
AU: Menietti, J D
EM: jdm@space.physics.uiowa.edu
AF: University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, IA 52242 United States
AU: Anderson, R R
EM: roger-r-anderson@uiowa.edu
AF: University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, IA 52242 United States
AB: Based on the harmonic frequencies of the field line resonance mode, the typical field line dependence of the mass density is locally peaked at the magnetic equator. In situ measurements of the electron density by the Polar spacecraft have not yet shown such a local peak. Rather they indicate that the electron density decreases as the magnetic equator is approached. On the other hand, there is a considerable uncertainty in the inferred mass density, and most of the electron density values at large $L$ measured by Polar are at high latitude. Here we examine the uncertainties in the field line dependence based on these two approaches in order to see if the results could be consistent, or if it is necessary to hypothesize a population of heavy ions localized to the magnetic equator.
DE: 2730 Magnetosphere--inner
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2752 MHD waves and instabilities
DE: 2768 Plasmasphere
DE: 2794 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting