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Observations of the geopause at the equatorial magnetopause: Density and temperature
Author(s) -
Chandler Michael O.,
Moore Thomas E.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2003gl017611
Subject(s) - magnetopause , plasmasphere , magnetosphere , noon , physics , geophysics , flux (metallurgy) , geosynchronous orbit , plasma , ion , local time , atmospheric sciences , computational physics , materials science , astronomy , satellite , quantum mechanics , metallurgy , statistics , mathematics
Magnetic flux tubes containing plasmaspheric ion density and composition have been observed in the region between the classical plasmapause and the magnetopause. New observations show that these ion distributions exist at the equatorial, post‐noon magnetopause. Comparison to observations of similar distributions at geosynchronous orbit and to simulations leads to the conclusion that these ions are convected from these regions to the magnetopause. This represents an extension of the geopause to the outer edge of the magnetosphere on the dayside. The presence of ion densities >10cm −3 in this region must have profound impact on the nature of plasma processes that occur there.