The Earth: Plasma Sources, Losses, and Transport Processes

Welling, D. T.; André, Mats; Dandouras, I.; Delcourt, Dominique; Fazakerley, A. N.; Fontaine, Dominique; Foster, J. C.; Ilie, R.; Kistler, L. M.; Lee, Justin H.; Liemohn, Michael W.; Slavin, J. A.; Wang, Chih‐Ping; Wiltberger, M. J.; Yau, A. W.

doi:10.1007/s11214-015-0187-2

Cited by 63 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 331 publications

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“…Although the model reproduces the density trend observed by Polar, the radial position of this transition does not match precisely, and there are several reasons why this behavior is expected. First, while ionospheric outflow is driven by many processes, both kinetic and fluid [see, e.g., Welling et al , , and references therein], only a handful of outflow processes are captured in MHD without including a stand‐alone outflow model [ Welling and Liemohn , ]. This is especially true in the cusp.…”

Section: Magnetohydrodynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Density variations in the Earth's magnetospheric cusps

et al. 2016

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Seven years of measurements from the Polar spacecraft are surveyed to monitor the variations of plasma density within the magnetospheric cusps. The spacecraft's orbital precession from 1998 through 2005 allows for coverage of both the northern and southern cusps from low altitude out to the magnetopause. In the mid‐ and high‐ altitude cusps, plasma density scales well with the solar wind density (ncusp/nsw∼0.8). This trend is fairly steady for radial distances greater then 4 RE. At low altitudes (r < 4RE) the density increases with decreasing altitude and even exceeds the solar wind density due to contributions from the ionosphere. The density of high charge state oxygen (O>+2) also displays a positive trend with solar wind density within the cusp. A multifluid simulation with the Block‐Adaptive‐Tree Solar Wind Roe‐Type Upwind Scheme MHD model was run to monitor the relative contributions of the ionosphere and solar wind plasma within the cusp. The simulation provides similar results to the statistical measurements from Polar and confirms the presence of ionospheric plasma at low altitudes.

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Section: Magnetohydrodynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Density variations in the Earth's magnetospheric cusps

et al. 2016

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“…Finally, the ionospheric outflow of ions (Welling et al 2015) is very important. The ionosphere (the ionized upper atmosphere) is a huge reservoir of cold ions that are gravitationally bound to the Earth.…”

Section: Important Physical Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ionospheric outflow of ions (Welling et al 2015), particularly O + , increases as the driving of the magnetosphere by the solar wind increases. Ionospheric outflow has different properties coming from different regions of the Earth: e.g., the polar caps, the sunlit dayside, the nightside auroral zone.…”

Section: Types Of Activity In the Magnetospheric Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Earth’s Magnetosphere: A Systems Science Overview and Assessment

Borovsky

Valdivia

2018

Surv Geophys

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A systems science examination of the Earth’s fully interconnected dynamic magnetosphere is presented. Here the magnetospheric system (a.k.a. the magnetosphere–ionosphere–thermosphere system) is considered to be comprised of 14 interconnected subsystems, where each subsystem is a characteristic particle population: 12 of those particle populations are plasmas and two (the atmosphere and the hydrogen geocorona) are neutrals. For the magnetospheric system, an assessment is made of the applicability of several system descriptors, such as adaptive, nonlinear, dissipative, interdependent, open, irreversible, and complex. The 14 subsystems of the magnetospheric system are cataloged and described, and the various types of magnetospheric waves that couple the behaviors of the subsystems to each other are explained. This yields a roadmap of the connectivity of the magnetospheric system. Various forms of magnetospheric activity beyond geomagnetic activity are reviewed, and four examples of emergent phenomena in the Earth’s magnetosphere are presented. Prior systems science investigations of the solar-wind-driven magnetospheric system are discussed: up to the present these investigations have not accounted for the full interconnectedness of the system. This overview and assessment of the Earth’s magnetosphere hopes to facilitate (1) future global systems science studies that involve the entire interconnected magnetospheric system with its diverse time and spatial scales and (2) connections of magnetospheric systems science with the broader Earth systems science.

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“…Following this new found excitement of outflow was the identification of another potential feedback loop [ Welling et al , ]. Using the first‐principle‐based PWOM model with global MHD and a dedicated ring current model, it was found that region 2 Birkeland currents could increase the amount of outflowing O + via a previously known mechanism [ Gombosi and Nagy , ].…”

Section: Mass‐energy Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hydrogen, oxygen, and total fluence (orange, green, and black lines, respectively) taken at the interface between the PWOM and BATS‐R‐US during the one‐way coupled simulation (solid lines) and the two‐way coupled simulation (dashed lines). Reproduced from Welling et al [].…”

Section: Mass‐energy Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ionospheric source of magnetospheric plasma is not a black box input for global models

Welling

Liemohn

2016

JGR Space Physics

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Including ionospheric outflow in global magnetohydrodynamic models of near‐Earth outer space has become an important step toward understanding the role of this plasma source in the magnetosphere. Of the existing approaches, however, few tie the outflowing particle fluxes to magnetospheric conditions in a self‐consistent manner. Doing so opens the magnetosphere‐ionosphere system to nonlinear mass‐energy feedback loops, profoundly changing the behavior of the magnetosphere‐ionosphere system. Based on these new results, it is time for the community eschew treating ionospheric outflow as a simple black box source of magnetospheric plasma.

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The Earth: Plasma Sources, Losses, and Transport Processes

Cited by 63 publications

References 331 publications

Density variations in the Earth's magnetospheric cusps

Density variations in the Earth's magnetospheric cusps

The Earth’s Magnetosphere: A Systems Science Overview and Assessment

The ionospheric source of magnetospheric plasma is not a black box input for global models

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