Ion outflow and associated perpendicular heating in the cusp observed by Interball Auroral Probe and Fast Auroral Snapshot

M. Bouhram (1) , N. Dubouloz (1, 2) , M. Malingre (1) , J. R. Jasperse (3) , R. Pottelette (1) , Catherine Senior (1) , Dominique Delcourt (1) , C. W. Carlson (4) , I. Roth (4) , M. Berthomier (4) , J.-A. Sauvaud (5)

1 CETP - Centre d'étude des environnements terrestre et planétaires
2 LPCE - Laboratoire de physique et chimie de l'environnement
3 AFRL - Air Force Research Laboratory
4 SSL - Space Sciences Laboratory [Berkeley]
5 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements

The spatial properties of ionospheric ion outflows associated with perpendicular heating processes in the cusp are studied using a conjunction study from two satellites and ground radar systems. Low-energy outflowing ions are measured in a wide longitudinal range, between 13,000 and 19,000 km in altitude, over the dayside polar cap by the Hyperboloid experiment aboard the Interball Auroral Probe (AP). These observations are related to conjugate convection field measurements by the Saskatoon-Kapuskasing pair of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN). Data analysis suggests that outflowing ions originate from a wide magnetic local time range associated with both the dayside cusp region and the dayside cleft region. A direct cusp crossing by the Fast Auroral Snapshot (FAST) satellite at 2000-km altitude shows a correlation between transverse ion heating in a thin latitudinal region ($1.3°) and the presence of broadband extremely low frequency (BBELF) turbulence, in addition to more intense electrostatic waves near and just above the lower hybrid (LH) frequency. This event is unusual because on the basis of the statistical survey of Freja and FAST data, most of the ion-heating events in the midaltitude auroral zone are correlated with enhanced emissions in the BBELF range. Furthermore, the electron population has energies that are too small to drive LH waves unstable. This event offers the opportunity to analyze the contribution of cusp magnetospheric ion injections to the heating of the ambient H + and O + ions. Kinetic instability calculations demonstrate that LH waves are destabilized by the ring distributions, which result from injections of high-energy magnetosheath ions. Calculations show that a preheating mechanism by BBELF turbulence near the ion gyrofrequencies is also required so that LH heating is able to occur. The altitude dependence of the LH perpendicular heating is then analyzed by modeling the transport of the injected magnetospheric ions along magnetic field lines. It is shown that LH heating acts as an additional process from $2000 up to 10,000 km in altitude. In addition, trajectory calculations show that the low-energy outflowing H + and O + ions observed along Interball AP orbit in the polar cap are heated inside the cusp at altitudes extending up to 15,000 km. These results are then assembled to construct a possible heating scenario inside the cusp for this data set. The contribution of the different energization mechanisms to the ion heating as a function of altitude is then discussed.

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

M. Bouhram, N. Dubouloz, M. Malingre, J. R. Jasperse, R. Pottelette, et al.. Ion outflow and associated perpendicular heating in the cusp observed by Interball Auroral Probe and Fast Auroral Snapshot. Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics, 2002, 107 (A2), pp.SMP 4-1-SMP 4-13. ⟨10.1029/2001JA000091⟩. ⟨insu-03039712⟩