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Variations of thermal electron energy distribution associated with field‐aligned currents
Author(s) -
Abe Takumi,
Okuzawa Takashi,
Oyama KohIchiro,
Fukunishi Hiroshi,
Fujii Ryoichi
Publication year - 1991
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 - 10.1029/91gl00033
Subject(s) - electron , physics , electron temperature , thermal , magnetic field , magnetometer , electron density , atomic physics , geophysics , meteorology , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
Relationships between thermal electrons and field aligned currents (FACs) in the auroral region have been investigated using data simultaneously obtained from the Thermal Electron Detector (TED) and the fluxgate magnetometer both onboard the EXOS‐D satellite. Several features resulted from the observations are summarized as; (1) At altitudes from 300 to 1800km, electron temperature in the upward FAC region is higher than that of the neighboring no FAC region by the increment ΔT=1100∼9500K, while the temperature is lower in the downward FAC region by the decrement −ΔT=500∼1500K. (2) The electron temperature increase in the upward‐current region grows with an increase of the FAC density. (3) The thermal electrons do not have Maxwell distribution in the upward‐current region at altitudes higher than about 2000km.