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The Oxygen Ion Circulation in The Outer Terrestrial Magnetosphere and Its Dependence on Geomagnetic Activity
Author(s) -
Slapak R.,
Nilsson H.
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1029/2018gl079816
Subject(s) - magnetosheath , magnetosphere , earth's magnetic field , physics , plasma sheet , geophysics , outflow , polar , latitude , magnetopause , geomagnetic latitude , plasma , atmospheric sciences , astrophysics , geology , magnetic field , astronomy , meteorology , quantum mechanics
We have quantified the O + transports in the plasma sheet and lobes (−20 < X G S M <−10R E ) and their dependencies on geomagnetic activity, Kp, using Cluster data. We found that they have similar behavior as the polar region O + outflow as well as the O + fluxes in the plasma mantle and high‐latitude dayside magnetosheath, in their response to geomagnetic activity. The sum of the total O + fluxes in the lobes, plasma sheet, plasma mantle, and high‐latitude magnetosheath equals the O + outflow above the polar regions for any geomagnetic condition. It can be argued that there are no hidden O + populations for Cluster, in the sense that there are no significant amounts of O + with energies outside the energy range of the ion spectrometer, Composition Distribution Function, and/or below the spacecraft potential. Therefore, we have obtained a complete picture of the O + circulation (and escape) in the outer magnetosphere and its dependence on geomagnetic activity.