NSF Award
9020655
The ionosphere has recently been recognized as an important source of magnetospheric plasma and may during active times be as important as the solar wind. On the day side at high latitudes plasma is accelerated away from the Earth in ion upwelling events called the "cleft ion fountain". This grant is to study the ion heating mechanisms and ion transport dynamics of the cleft ion fountain using a generalized fluid model, with the microscopic effects of plasma microprocesses built in. The generalized fluid model contains higher moments, such as, temperature anisotropies and heat flows of multispecies plasma, and is therefore particularly will suited for calculations of parting heating and acceleration produced by kinetic instabilities.
