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Seki et al. 1996
Seki, K., Hirahara, M., Terasawa, T., Shinohara, I., Mukai, T., Saito, Y., Machida, S., Yamamoto, T. and Kokubun, S. (1996). Coexistence of Earth-origin O+ and solar wind-origin H+/He++ in the distant magnetotail. Geophysical Research Letters 23: doi: 10.1029/96GL00768. issn: 0094-8276.

In the lobe/mantle region at ~159 RE away from the Earth during a geomagnetically disturbed period, we have found the coexistence of three ion species, H+, He++, and O+, streaming tailward with nearly the same flow velocity ~200--500 km/s. Both H+ and O+ ions are detected almost continuously from near plasma sheet to near magnetopause region. From a positive correlation between the proton density and their velocity component parallel to the magnetic field VH+∥, we conclude that most of protons have come from the solar wind. The existence of He++ further supports this conclusion, which implies the importance of solar wind contribution to the magnetotail. The existence of O+, on the other hand, suggests that the ions of ionospheric origin have mixed with those of solar wind origin. The lack of positive correlation between O+ density and VO+∥ is consistent with the idea that O+ ions have some source mechanism different from that of protons. Simultaneously, curious velocity differences are also observed: VO+∥ appears to be often faster than VH+∥ by ΔV=20--30 km/s. This observation may provide a key for further discussion. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetotail, Magnetospheric Physics, Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions, Magnetospheric Physics, Magnetosphere/ionosphere interactions
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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