The Polar Cusp

Abstract

Plasma and field observations in the exterior cusp, entry layer, and plasma mantle.- Plasma composition and flow characteristics in the magnetospheric boundary layers connected to the polar cusp.- Simulation of solar wind-magnetosphere interaction.- Electron injection in the polar cusp.- Ion injection and acceleration in the polar cusp.- Average electron precipitation in the polar cusps, cleft and cap.- The characteristics of a persistent auroral arc at high latitude in the 1400 MLT sector.- The effects of magnetosheath electrons on charge exchange, radiation trapping and other atomic and molecular processes in the mid-day polar cusp thermosphere.- The HeI 3889A line in polar cleft spectra.- Modelling of cusp auroras: The relative impact of solar EUV radiation and soft electron precipitation.- Polar cusp dynamics.- Large- and small-scale dynamics of the polar cusp region.- Polar cusp features observed by DMSP satellites.- Optical-particle characteristics of the polar cusp.- Characteristics of large-scale Birkeland currents in the cusp and polar regions.- Dayside high-latitude ionospheric current systems.- Small scale intense field aligned current sheets in the northern polar cusp.- Interferometer observations of ion and neutral dynamics in the polar cusp.- Neutral parcel transport in the high latitude F-region.- Observations of plasma structure and transport at high latitudes.- Interplanetary magnetic field effects on high latitude ionospheric convection.- Structure in the DC and AC electric fields associated with the dayside cusp region.- Low frequency waves at the dayside auroral oval.- Incoherent-scatter radar observations of the cusp.- High-resolution observations of electric fields and F-region plasma parameters in the cleft ionosphere.- Observations of the unstable E-region in the polar cusp.- Observations of the cusp with topside sounders.- Definition of the cusp.- Future cusp experiments and their coordination.- Summary.