On the transport of ions released in the magnetotail by the AMPTE-IRM satellite

Abstract

The Ba and Li ions that were released in the magnetotail in the Spring, 1985, by the AMPTE-IRM satellite were not observed subsequently in the inner magnetosphere with the AMPTE-CCE satellite. These results were studied by using a Monte Carlo code to compute the transport of the ions. For each release several hundred ion guiding-center trajectories were computed under simulated magnetospheric conditions, using the Tsyganenko-Usmanov magnetic field model and the Millstone-Hill convection electric field model. The corotation and convection electric fields were mapped to altitudes above the ionosphere assuming the magnetic field lines to be equipotentials. The initial conditions of the ions, at the times at which the ions were picked up by the electric field, were estimated by taking into consideration the release conditions and the early-time collective effects. The results indicate that the Ba + ions were not observed because the CCE satellite was not along the drift paths of the ions, and the Li + ions were not observed because their fluxes at the satellite were too low.