Measuring ion temperatures and studying the ion energy balance in the high-latitude ionosphere
Abstract
Data are presented for a nighttime ion heating event observed by the EISCAT radar on December 16, 1988. During the heating event, the derived spectral distortion parameter indicated that the distribution function was highly distorted from a Maxwellian form when the ion drift increased to 4 km/s. The true three-dimensional ion temperature was used in the simplified ion balance equation to compute the ion mass during the heating event. The ion composition was found to change from predominantly O(+) to mainly molecular ions. A theoretical analysis of the ion composition, using the MSIS86 model and published values of the chemical rate coefficients, accounts for the order-of-magnitude increase in the atomic/molecular ion ratio during the event, but does not successfully explain the very high proportion of molecular ions that was observed.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics
- Pub Date:
- August 1990
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0021-9169(90)90049-S
- Bibcode:
- 1990JATP...52..501W
- Keywords:
-
- Earth Ionosphere;
- Ion Temperature;
- Ionospheric Drift;
- Ionospheric Heating;
- Atmospheric Models;
- Eiscat Radar System (Europe);
- Geomagnetism;
- Incoherent Scatter Radar;
- Ion Scattering;
- Night Sky