3D Multi‐fluid MHD Simulation of the Early Time Behavior of an Artificial Plasma Cloud in the Bottom Side Ionosphere

Abstract

The evolution and dynamics of artificially created plasma clouds are rich with a variety of interesting plasma physics that has made them the subject of investigation for many decades (Davis, 1979; Haerendal, 2019). Observations include radial expansion of the neutral cloud, field-aligned expansion of the ion cloud, development of a diamagnetic cavity and collapse, snowplowed background ions, "skidding" of the ion cloud, electron heating, and small-or large-scale structuring of the ions described as striations, flutes, sheets, and/ or surface waves (

3D Multi‐Fluid MHD Simulation of the Early Time Behavior and Cross‐Field Propagation of an Artificial Plasma Cloud in the Bottom Side Ionosphere

“…At 10 s (not shown) the neutral barium cloud peak density is 8.5·10 2 cm −3 with a half‐width half‐max of 57 km along the field and 115 km across the field. The barium cloud showed approximately a 10% peak density reduction compared to the stationary cloud ($${\overset{\rightharpoonup }{V}}_{0}=0$$) release (Ober et al., 2021) as the neutrals spread out along the release direction.…”

“…The uniform background magnetic field is in the z-direction, B ⇀ = B 0 ẑ, with B 0 = 3.0 × 10 5 T unless otherwise stated. These values are chosen to be the same as Ober et al (2021) and comparable to those used by Ma & Schunk (1993). The artificial cloud consists of neutral barium, Ba.…”

“…These values are chosen to be the same as Ober et al. (2021) and comparable to those used by Ma & Schunk (1993). The artificial cloud consists of neutral barium, Ba .…”

“…For the purposes of this paper, the energy equation is not solved, and a constant temperature of 0.1 eV is assumed. The full description of the transport equations, collision frequencies, and numerical techniques has been stated elsewhere (Ober et al., 2021) but will be partially reproduced here.…”