Paul D. Craven

Global core plasma model

The global core plasma model (GCPM) provides empirically derived core plasma density as a function of geomagnetic and solar conditions throughout the inner magnetosphere. It is continuous in value and gradient and is composed of separate models for the ionosphere, plasmasphere, plasmapause, trough, and polar cap. The relative composition of plasmaspheric H+, He+, and O+ is included in the GCPM. A blunt plasmaspheric bulge and rotation of the bulge with changing geomagnetic conditions is included. The GCPM is an amalgam of density models intended to serve as a framework for continued improvement as new measurements become available and are used to characterize core plasma density, composition, and temperature.

Ionospheric mass ejection in response to a CME

We report observations of a direct ionospheric plasma outflow response to the incidence of an interplanetary shock and associated coronal mass ejection (CME) upon the earths magnetosphere. Data from the WIND spacecraft, 185 RE upstream, document the passage of an interplanetary shock at 23:20 UT on 24 Sept. 1998. The polar cap plasma environment sampled by the POLAR spacecraft changed abruptly at 23:45 UT, reflecting the compressional displacement of the geopause relative to the spacecraft. POLAR left the polar wind outflow region and entered the mantle flows. Descending toward the dayside cusp region, POLAR later returned from the mantle to an enhanced polar wind flux dominated by O+ plasma and eventually containing molecular ions. The enhanced and O+− dominated outflow continued as the spacecraft passed through the high altitude cleft and then the southern cleft at lower altitude. Such a direct response of the ionosphere to solar wind dynamic pressure disturbances may have important impacts on magnetospheric dynamics.

An empirical model of the earth's plasmasphere

Abstract We present here an empirical model of plasmaspheric low energy plasma consisting of H+. The model is developed from a data base derived from measurements taken by the Retarding Ion Mass Spectrometer on the Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite. An analytical expression that reproduces the density profiles for moderate geomagnetic activity is given and discussed. This expression reproduces the density fall off in the ionosphere as well as the sharp density decrease at the plasmaspause.

Relative concentration of He+ in the inner magnetosphere as observed by the DE 1 retarding ion mass spectrometer

/r Abstract. With observations from the retarding ion mass spectrometer on the Dynamics Explorer 1 from 1981 through 1984, we examine the He + to H + density ratios as a function of altitude, latitude, season, local time, geomagnetic and solar activity. We find that the ratios are primarily a function of geocentric distance and the solar EUV input. The ratio of the densities, when plotted as a function of geocentric distance, decrease by an order of magnitude from 1 to 4.5 RE. After the He + to H + density ratios are adjusted for the dependence on radial distance, they decrease nonlinearly by a factor of 5 as the solar EUV proxy varies from about 250 to about 70. When the mean variations with both these parameters are removed, the ratios appear to have no dependence on geomagnetic activity, and weak dependence on local time or season, geomagnetic latitude, and L shell.

The adequacy of the ionospheric source in supplying magnetospheric plasma

More than 30 years after the prediction of the polar wind outflow from the high latitude ionosphere, the exact magnitude and ultimate fate of the ionospheric plasma supply remains unknown. Estimates made more than a decade ago suggested that the polar ion outflow might well be of sufficient strength to populate the different regions of the Earth’s magnetosphere. Direct measurements in the high altitude magnetosphere became possible only with the launch of the Polar spacecraft. The combination of the Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment and the Plasma Source Instrument has revealed the presence of low energy (<10 eV) ions moving through the polar regions and into the lobes of the magnetotail. These ions would have been invisible to previous un-neutralized satellites because of the high positive spacecraft potentials. Through the use of a recently developed single particle trajectory and energization code, the movement and energy transformation of these measured particles can be estimated. They are found to move into the plasma sheet region and to be energized to typical plasma sheet energies. The magnitude of the flux of the highly variable out-flowing ions mapped to 1000 km altitude is 1 − 3 × 108 ions/cm2 s in agreement with the original estimates. Future observations by the TIDE/PSI instruments will be required to determine the extent of the total ionospheric contribution.

Solar Wind Influence on the Oxygen Content of Ion Outflow in the High Altitude Polar Cap During Solar Minimum Conditions

We correlate solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) properties with the properties of O+ and H+ during early 1996 (solar minimum) at altitudes between 5.5 and 8.9 RE geocentric using the Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment (TIDE) on the Polar satellite. Throughout the high-altitude polar cap we observe H+ to be more abundant than O+. O+ is found to be more abundant at lower latitudes when the solar wind speed is low (and Kp is low), while at higher solar wind speeds (and high Kp), O+ is observed across most of the polar cap. The O+ density and parallel flux are well organized by solar wind dynamic pressure, both increasing with solar wind dynamic pressure. Both the O+ density and parallel flux have positive correlations with both VswBIMF and Esw. No correlation is found between O+ density and IMF Bz, although a nonlinear relationship with IMF By is observed, possibly due to a strong linear correlation with the dynamic pressure. H+ is not as highly correlated with solar wind and IMF parameters, although H+ density and parallel flux are negatively correlated with IMF By and positively correlated with both VswBIMF and Esw. In this solar minimum data set, H+ is dominant, so that contributions of this plasma to the plasma sheet would have very low O+ to H+ ratios.

Magnetospheric boundary dynamics: DE 1 and DE 2 observations near the magnetopause and cusp

A broad spectrum of particle and field measurements was taken near local noon by the Dynamics Explorer satellites during the magnetic storm of September 6, 1982. While at apogee, DE 1 sampled the magnetospheric boundary layer at mid southern latitudes and, due to the passage of an intense solar wind burst, briefly penetrated into the magnetosheath. In the boundary layer and the adjacent magnetosheath the plasma flow was directed toward dawn. Variance and de Hoffmann-Teller analyses of electric and magnetic field data during the magnetopause crossing showed the magnetopause structure to be that of a rotational discontinuity or an intermediate shock with a substantial normal magnetic field component. This is consistent with an open magnetosphere model in which significant magnetic merging occurs at the local time of the spacecraft. The orbit of DE 2 carried it through the morning sector of the low-altitude, southern cusp. The measurements show a well-defined, cusp current system occurring on open magnetic field lines. At both cusp and subcusp latitudes the electric field was equatorward indicating a strongly eastward plasma flow. The boundary between these two regions was marked by the onset of magnetosheath precipitation and an electric field structure containing both poleward and equatorward spikes. The poleward spike has associated field-aligned currents which are closed by Pedersen currents and, from force balance considerations, is interpreted as the signature of a magnetic merging event at the magnetopause. The equatorward spike has the characteristics of a down-coming and reflected Alfven wave packet of finite dimensions. The high-altitude measurements suggest that the dayside boundary layer is made up of closed magnetic flux tubes, a large fraction of which drift to the magnetopause where merging with the IMF occurs. The merging line maps to the ionosphere as a “gap” across which the polar cap potential is applied to the magnetosphere. The potential is applied from a magnetosheath generator to the polar ionosphere by means of the cusp, field-aligned current system. The electric fields provide an ionospheric indicator of the mapping of the merging line location.

Comparisons of modeled N+, O+, H+, and He+ in the midlatitude ionosphere with mean densities and temperatures from Atmosphere Explorer

In this study, Atmosphere Explorer data and model results from the ion and electron temperature and the density of N+, O+, H+, and He+ between 120 and 1400 km altitude are compared for two midlatitude ranges (L=2 and L=4), noon and midnight local time, winter and summer, at solar minimum. The data for the heavy atomic ions (O+ and N+) show that their densities are greater at noon than at midnight for a given season and greater in summer than winter for given local time. There is only a weak latitudinal variation in the density of these ions. The data show that the light ion (H+ and He+) densities are greater at midnight than at noon and are generally greater in winter than summer. There is a strong latitudinal variation of the light ion densities, with the densities decreasing with increasing latitude. The model densities are in good agreement with the AE densities for N+, O+, and H+. Model He+ densities are lower, by a factor of 2 or more than the measured densities. Model ion and electron temperatures agree well with the measured temperatures with only a modest increase in plasmaspheric heating. 44 refs., 14 figs.

Photoelectric emission measurements on the analogs of individual cosmic dust grains

The photoelectric emission process is considered to be the dominant mechanism for charging of cosmic dust grains in many astrophysical environments. The grain charge and equilibrium potentials play an important role in the dynamical and physical processes that include heating of the neutral gas in the interstellar medium, coagulation processes in the dust clouds, and levitation and dynamical processes in the interplanetary medium and planetary surfaces and rings. An accurate evaluation of photoelectric emission processes requires knowledge of the photoelectric yields of individual dust grains of astrophysical composition as opposed to the values obtained from measurements on flat surfaces of bulk materials, as it is generally assumed on theoretical considerations that the yields for the small grains are much different from the bulk values. We present laboratory measurements of the photoelectric yields of individual dust grains of silica, olivine, and graphite of ~0.09-5 μm radii levitated in an electrodynamic balance and illuminated with UV radiation at 120-160 nm wavelengths. The measured yields are found to be substantially higher than the bulk values given in the literature and indicate a size dependence with larger particles having order-of-magnitude higher values than for submicron-size grains.

Laboratory Experiments on Rotation and Alignment of the Analogs of Interstellar Dust Grains by Radiation

The processes and mechanisms involved in the rotation and alignment of interstellar dust grains have been of great interest in astrophysics ever since the surprising discovery of the polarization of starlight more than half a century ago. Numerous theories, detailed mathematical models, and numerical studies of grain rotation and alignment with respect to the Galactic magnetic field have been presented in the literature. In particular, the subject of grain rotation and alignment by radiative torques has been shown to be of particular interest in recent years. However, despite many investigations, a satisfactory theoretical understanding of the processes involved in grain rotation and alignment has not been achieved. As there appear to be no experimental data available on this subject, we have carried out some unique experiments to illuminate the processes involved in the rotation of dust grains in the interstellar medium. In this paper we present the results of some preliminary laboratory experiments on the rotation of individual micron/submicron-sized, nonspherical dust grains levitated in an electrodynamic balance evacuated to pressures of ~10-3 to 10-5 torr. The particles are illuminated by laser light at 5320 A, and the grain rotation rates are obtained by analyzing the low-frequency (~0-100 kHz) signal of the scattered light detected by a photodiode detector. The rotation rates are compared with simple theoretical models to retrieve some basic rotational parameters. The results are examined in light of the current theories of alignment.