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Heelis et al. 1992
Heelis, R.A., Coley, W.R., Loranc, M. and Hairston, M.R. (1992). Three-dimensional ionospheric plasma circulation. Journal of Geophysical Research 97: doi: 10.1029/92JA00872. issn: 0148-0227.

Examination of the ion drift velocity vector measured on the DE 2 spacecraft reveals the significance of ionospheric flows both perpendicular and parallel to the magnetic field at high latitudes. During the periods of southward directed interplanetary magnetic field the familiar two-cell convection pattern perpendicular to the magnetic field is associated with field-aligned motion predominantly upward in the dayside auroral zone and cusp, and predominantly downward in the polar cap. Frictional heating by convection through the neutral gas and heating by energetic particle precipitation are believed to be responsible for the bulk of the upward flow with downward flows resulting from subsequent cooling of the plasma. Some of the upward flowing plasma is apparently given escape energy at altitudes above about 800 km. The average flow of ions across the entire high-latitude region at 400 km is outward and comparable to the energetic ion outflow observed at much higher alitudes by DE 1. ¿American Geophysical Union 1992

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Abstract

Keywords
Ionosphere, Plasma convection, Ionosphere, Electric fields and currents, Ionosphere, Polar ionosphere
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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