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Comparison of semikinetic and generalized transport models of the polar wind
Author(s) -
Demars H. G.,
Schunk R. W.
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 - 10.1029/91gl00548
Subject(s) - physics , polar , plasma , perpendicular , computational physics , thermal , polar wind , moment (physics) , altitude (triangle) , space (punctuation) , mechanics , geophysics , solar wind , atmospheric sciences , classical mechanics , meteorology , magnetopause , geometry , nuclear physics , mathematics , astronomy , linguistics , philosophy
A comparison has been made, in as consistent a manner as possible, of a transport (bi‐Maxwellian based 16‐moment equations) and a semikinetic description of the terrestrial polar wind. The comparison shows a remarkably close agreement in the corresponding predictions for the altitude variation of the density, drift velocity, parallel and perpendicular (to B ) temperatures, and the flow of parallel and perpendicular thermal energies. This close agreement provides further evidence that the bi‐Maxwellian based transport equations are a powerful tool for studying thermal space plasmas that develop non‐Maxwellian features.