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Detailed Reference Information
Gosling et al. 1978
Gosling, J.T., Asbridge, J.R., Bame, S.J., Paschmann, G. and Sckopke, N. (1978). Observations of two distinct populations of bow shock ions in the upstream solar wind. Geophysical Research Letters 5: doi: 10.1029/GL005i011p00957. issn: 0094-8276.

Observations upstream of the earth's bow shock with the LASL/MPI fast plasma experiments on ISEE 1 and 2 reveal the presence of two distinct and mutually exclusive populations of low energy (≲40keV) ions apparently accelerated at the bow shock. The first of these, the ''reflected'' population, is characterized by 1) sharply peaked spectra seldom extending much above ~ 10 keV/ion and 2) relatively collimated flow coming from the direction of the shock. On the other hand, the ''diffuse'' ions are distinguished by relatively flat energy spectra above ~ 10 keV and broad angular distributions. They are by far the most commonly observed upstream ion event. A close causal association is suggested between the diffuse ion population in the upstream solar wind and energetic plasma ions observed within the magnetosheath.

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Geophysical Research Letters
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American Geophysical Union
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