Abstract
Observations showing that the low energy (≲ 17 keV) portion of the ring current at L ≲ 4 is composed mainly of O+ and He+ ions during quiet times and the recovery of magnetic storms are presented. The data were obtained from the ion composition experiment on board the PROG‐NOZ‐7 satellite during several passes through the ring current region. For L ≲ 3.5, the relative abundance of H+ was only a few percent of the ion energy density in the energy range of 0.2‐17 keV. Although O+ normally dominates for L ≲ 4, the relative contribution of He+ increases with decreasing L, and in one case became more abundant than O+ for L ≲ 3. One example of a storm injection shows dominance by O+ ions (∼ 82%) with H+ only giving a minor contribution (∼ 15%) to the density. These observations are consistent with inferences based on charge exchange, H+ being most rapidly lost and He+ being the most stable.
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