Mesoscale Auroral Plasma Transport

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The proposed work is to study the mesoscale transport and energization of ionospheric plasmas on auroral flux tubes primarily with the Generalized SemiKinetic (GSK) techniques developed in recent years at UAH. This hybrid ion-incell/generalized electron fluid approach has demonstrated unique capabilities for treating, over mesoscale (several RE), the transport of ionospheric plasma under the influence of such effects as instability-driven microprocesses and the combination of magnetospheric plasma- supported potentials and wave heating. This approach incorporates the self-consistency of processes normally found in "fluid" models while allowing the detailed study of ion distribution formation normally restricted to test-particle studies. Using the newly- developed techniques together with previously developed methods the areas of investigation will include: the reaction of an auroral flux tube and plasma transport to auroral electron beams; energetic plasma sheet plasmas and electric currents with self-consistent ionization; time-dependent wave-driven conic generation; and synergistic effects of hot plasma-driven potentials and wave fields, including the development of the potentials themselves. New technical advances in this research will include: (1) Incorporation of auroral electron beams into the electrodynamics of the transport description; (2) Development of techniques for coupling the GSK approach into the lower F and E-region ionosphere, with specific allowance for self-consistent ionization and outflow generated by these electron beams; (3) Improved approaches for treating the general electrodynamic interaction of hot magnetospheric plasmas with the ionospheric outflow; and (4) Development of improved algorithms for the incorporation of effects of the Current-Driven Ion Cyclotron Instability (CDICI) into kinetic and generalized transport models. Finally, interactive comparisons of the results with auroral ion distribution function measurements from D E-1, Polar, Viking, Akebono, Freja and other spacecraft are proposed.