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Detailed Reference Information |
Nagai, T., Waite, J.H., Green, J.L., Chappell, C.G., Olsen, R.C. and Comfort, R.H. (1984). First measurements of supersonic polar wind in the polar magnetosphere. Geophysical Research Letters 11: doi: 10.1029/GL011i007p00669. issn: 0094-8276. |
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Measurements from the Retarding Ion Mass Spectrometer (RIMS) on Dynamics Explorer (DE) have, for the first time, revealed a supersonic polar wind (Mach number is greater than 1) along polar cap field lines. The observations reported were obtained on the nightside (22:30 to 23:30 MLT) from 65¿ to 81¿ invariant latitude and at altitudes near 2 RE. Fitting the data using a thin-sheath model gives a range of temperatures of 0.1 to 0.2 eV with corresponding flow velocities of 25 to 16 km s-1 over the estimated range of spacecraft potential of +3 to +5 V. For these values the Mach number ranged from 5.1 to 2.6 (with a most likely value of 3). Characteristics of the H+ flow are in general agreement with those predicted by ''classical'' polar wind theory, but high variability of the He+/H+ ratio was observed. |
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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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