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The Formation of Electron Heat Flux Over the Sunlit Quiet Polar Cap Ionosphere
Author(s) -
Khazanov George V.,
Sibeck David G.,
Zesta Eftyhia
Publication year - 2019
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 - 10.1029/2019gl084522
Subject(s) - ionosphere , electron , physics , geophysics , magnetosphere , heat flux , electron precipitation , electron temperature , atmospheric sciences , polar , atomic physics , incoherent scatter , magnetic field , computational physics , astronomy , heat transfer , mechanics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
We consider a new mechanism for the thermal electron heat fluxes formation over the sunlit polar cap in the presence of the potential jumps that are created by the photoelectron escape along the open magnetic field lines. Photoelectrons traveling into the magnetosphere experience small Coulomb collisional scattering, and the low‐energy part of their spectra becomes trapped between the potential jump and upper ionosphere creating the thermal electron energy fluxes that support the formation of electron temperature at the ionospheric altitudes. This mechanism eliminates the need for the customary practice of assuming arbitrary electron heat fluxes at the upper ionospheric boundary in order to explain the measured electron temperature in the topside ionosphere.