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The Lifetimes of Plasma Structures at High Latitudes
Author(s) -
Ivarsen Magnus F.,
Jin Yaqi,
Spicher Andres,
Miloch Wojciech,
Clausen Lasse B. N.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1029/2020ja028117
Subject(s) - ionosphere , plasma , computational physics , atmospheric sciences , physics , f region , polar , diffusion , environmental science , atomic physics , geophysics , nuclear physics , astronomy , thermodynamics
We present an investigation of polar cap plasma structure lifetimes. We analyze both simulated data from ionospheric models (International Reference Ionosphere model and Mass Spectrometer Incoherent Scatter model) and in situ data from the Swarm satellite mission (the 16 Hz Advanced Plasma Density dataset). We find that the theoretical prediction that E‐region conductance is a predictor of F‐region polar cap plasma structure lifetimes is indeed supported by both in situ‐based observations and by ionospheric models. In situ plasma structure lifetimes correlate well with the ratio of F‐ to E‐region conductance. We present explicit predictions of small scale (∼1 km) structure lifetimes, which range from less than 1 h during local summer to around 3 h during local winter. We highlight a large discrepancy between the observational and theoretical scale‐dependency of decay due to diffusion.