Nightside auroral zone and polar cap ion outflow as a function of substorm size and phase

Abstract

Because the high latitude ionosphere is an important source of plasma for the magnetosphere under active conditions, we have undertaken a study of the way ion outflow from the nightside auroral zone and polar cap respond to substorm activity. We have combined data from the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) on Polar with ion upflow measurements from the TEAMS instrument on the FAST spacecraft to construct a picture of ion upflow from these regions as a function of substorm size and as a function of time relative to substorm onset. We use data taken during solar minimum in the northern hemisphere between December 1996 and February 1997. We find that the total nightside auroral zone ion outflow rate (averaged over substorm phase) depends on the size of the substorm, increasing by about a factor of 10 for both O+ and H+ from the smallest to the largest substorms in our study. The combined outflow rate from both the polar cap and the nightside auroral zone goes up by a factor of 7 for both ions for the same change in conditions. Regardless of storm size, the nightside auroral zone outflow rate increases by about a factor of 2 after onset, reaching its peak level after about 20 min. These results indicate that the change in the nightside auroral zone ion outflow rate that accompanies substorm onset is not as significant as the change from low to high magnetic activity. As a consequence, the prompt increase in the near earth plasma sheet energy density of O+ and H+ ions that accompanies onset [Daglis and Axford, 1996] is likely due to local energization of ions already present rather than to the sudden arrival and energization of fresh ionospheric plasma.