Review of microscopic plasma processes occurring during refilling of the plasmasphere

Abstract

Refilling of the plasmasphere after geomagnetic storms involves both macroscopic and microscopic plasma processes. The latter types of processes facilitate the refilling by trapping the plasma in the flux tube and by thermalizing the interhemispheric flow. A review of studies on microscopic processes is presented. The primary focus in this review is on the processes when the density is low and the plasma is collisionless. The discussion includes electrostatic shock formation, pitch angle scattering, extended ion heating and localized ion heating in the equatorial region.