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Database of Storm Time Equatorial Ion Temperatures in Earth's Magnetosphere Calculated From Energetic Neutral Atom Data
Author(s) -
Keesee A. M.,
Katus R. M.,
Floyd M.,
Scime E. E.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1029/2020ja028266
Subject(s) - magnetosphere , ion , plasma sheet , geomagnetic storm , physics , computational physics , plasma , atomic physics , database , geophysics , solar wind , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , computer science
Abstract Ion temperature is a key parameter that influences dynamics in the magnetosphere, such as particle transport and wave‐particle interactions. Measurements of ion heating and energization yield information about phenomena such as magnetic reconnection, bursty bulk flows, and ion injections. Taking advantage of the global view provided by energetic neutral atom imaging, a database of ion temperature maps during geomagnetic storms occurring throughout the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Two Wide‐angle Imaging Neutral atom Spectrometers (TWINS) mission has been created. These ion temperature maps and relevant metadata are publicly available on CDAWeb to facilitate comparison to in situ measurements and model output, for use as boundary conditions for simulations, and for other relevant studies. A preliminary study of average plasma sheet ion temperatures calculated from these maps has revealed a common occurrence of decreasing ion temperature, and a case study for one storm is presented.