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Detailed Reference Information |
Shematovich, V.I., Bisikalo, D.V. and Gérard, J.-C. (2005). An auroral source of hot oxygen in the geocorona. Geophysical Research Letters 32: doi: 10.1029/2004GL021912. issn: 0094-8276. |
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The high-energy proton-hydrogen (H+/H) beam associated with proton auroral precipitation transfers momentum in elastic and inelastic collisions with ambient thermal atomic oxygen in the high latitude thermosphere. This process provides a localized novel source of hot oxygen atoms in addition to exothermic photochemistry, charge exchange and momentum transfer from O+ ion precipitation and charge exchange with accelerated ionospheric O+ ions. We suggest that this source contributes to the population of the hot oxygen geocorona and to the flux of escaping oxygen atoms. For an incident proton energy flux of 1 mW m-2 and a mean energy Emean ≈ 5 keV, we calculate a density of hot oxygen atoms with energy above 1 eV of 2.0 ¿ 103 cm-3 and a mean kinetic energy of about 3.5 eV at 700 km. The total upward flux of hot oxygen atoms with energies higher 1 eV is estimated as 3.5 ¿ 108 cm-2 s-1. |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Airglow and aurora, Magnetospheric Physics, Energetic particles, precipitating, Planetary Sciences, Solid Surface Planets, Aurorae and airglow, Space Plasma Physics, Kinetic and MHD theory |
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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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