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Energetic particles and currents: Results from Dynamics Explorer
Author(s) -
Burch J. L.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg026i002p00215
Subject(s) - physics , plasma , ionosphere , magnetosphere , polar , ion , electron , computational physics , electron precipitation , spectrometer , magnetic field , altitude (triangle) , atomic physics , acceleration , geophysics , atmospheric sciences , astronomy , nuclear physics , optics , classical mechanics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
The suprathermal plasma instruments on DE 1 and DE 2 (high‐altitude plasma instrument, low‐altitude plasma instrument, and energetic ion composition spectrometer) have provided new data on the distribution functions and composition of plasmas at altitudes from a few hundred to ∼23,000 km. Of particular interest are the results that have been obtained on the injection and transport of plasma in the polar cusp, on the upward acceleration of ionospheric ions and electrons, and on the charge carriers of the various high‐latitude Birkeland current systems (using independent measurements of the currents by the magnetic field instruments MAG‐A and MAG‐B). These results and other contributions of the Dynamics Explorer hot plasma and magnetic field measurements to our understanding of magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling are reviewed in this paper.