Polar cap patch segmentation of the tongue of ionization in the morning convection cell

• Main Authors: Q. H. Zhang, B. C. Zhang, J. Moen, M. Lockwood, I. W. McCrea, H. G. Yang, H. Q. Hu, R. Y. Liu, S. R. Zhang, Mark Lester
• Format: Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Uncategorized; Science & Technology; Physical Sciences; Geosciences; Multidisciplinary; Geology; Polar cap patches; tongue of ionization; poleward-moving plasma concentration enhancements; EISCAT SVALBARD RADAR; MAGNETOPAUSE RECONNECTION; IONOSPHERE; BOUNDARY; DYNAMICS; DENSITY; FLOWS; Svalbard; EISCAT
• Online Access: https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Polar_cap_patch_segmentation_of_the_tongue_of_ionization_in_the_morning_convection_cell/10135073

Two types of poleward moving plasma concentration enhancements (PMPCEs) were observed during a sequence of pulsed reconnection events, both in the morning convection cell: Type L (low density) was associated with a cusp flow channel and seems likely to have been produced by ionization associated with particle precipitation, while Type H (high density) appeared to originate from the segmentation of the tongue of ionization by the processes which produced the Type L events. As a result, the Type L and Type H PMPCEs were interspersed, producing a complex density structure which underlines the importance of cusp flow channels as a mechanism for segmenting and structuring electron density in the cusp and shows the necessity of differentiating between at least two classes of electron density patches.