Exploring the Inner Edge of the Plasma Sheet with ENA Observations

It has been shown that ENA measurements are sensitive enough to detect plasma sheet flux increases coincident with increased convection. By examining continuous large time intervals in the near earth tail, correlations between ENA fluxes and solar wind parameters (geomagnetic activity levels) will be established for most of the time between the years 2000 and 2006. These observations are a natural gateway to the study of the evolution and dynamics of the inner edge of the plasma sheet by providing two dimensional maps inside L of 10. These maps serve as the means to characterize the plasma sheet, a necessary first step in understanding of plasma sheet response to magnetospheric activity.