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Detailed Reference Information |
Tam, S.W.Y., Yasseen, F., Chang, T. and Ganguli, S.B. (1995). Self-consistent kinetic photoelectron effects on the polar wind. Geophysical Research Letters 22: doi: 10.1029/95GL01846. issn: 0094-8276. |
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Anomalous electron heat fluxes and recent observations of day-night asymmetries in polar wind features indicate that photoelectrons may affect polar wind dynamics. These anomalous fluxes require a global kinetic description (i.e., mesoscale particle phase space evolution involving microscale interactions); their impact o the polar wind itself requires a selfconsistent description. In this Letter, we discuss results of a selfconsistent hybrid model that explains the dayside observations. This model represents the first global kinetic collisional description for photoelectrons in a selfconsistent classical polar wind picture. In this model, photoelectrons are treated as test particles, ion properties are based on global kinetic collisional calculations, thermal electron features and the ambipolar field are determined by fluid calculations. The model provides the first global steadystate polar wind solution that is continuous from the subsonic collisional regime at low altitude to the supersonic collisionless regime at high altitude. Also, the results are consistent with experiments in several aspects, such as order of magnitude of the ambipolar electric potential, qualitative features of the ion outflow characteristics, electron anisotropy and upwardly directed electron heat flux on the dayside. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995 |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Ionosphere, Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions, Ionosphere, Polar cap ionosphere, Magnetospheric Physics, Electric fields, Ionosphere, Electric fields |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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