GEM: The Sources and Pathways of Ions in the Warm Plasma Cloak

环绕地球的辐射带由不同的粒子群组成。暖等离子体斗篷是在影响磁层动力学的波粒相互作用中起关键作用的离子群。这项工作研究这个人口。该项目由一名职业生涯中期的女科学家领导，她正从技术部门返回空间物理学研究领域，致力于实现大气和地球空间科学司支助职业生涯中期科学家的目标。该奖项支持的研究小组包括几名女科学家。该项目的主要目标是：识别暖等离子体斗篷的来源以及导致其特征分布的途径和过程。为了实现这一目标，工作将回答以下问题：（1）什么是温暖的等离子体的循环路径，使它的昼侧磁层？它们的路径沿着的特征分布是什么？(2)暖等离子体斗篷等离子体的来源是电离层离子的直接外流还是等离子体片群的向内对流？在运输过程中是否观察到加热？(3)去极化对暖等离子体斗篷的形成有什么影响？为了了解暖等离子体斗篷人口的来源和传输路径，该团队将对整个内磁层的场对准低能H+和O+进行统计研究，使用来自美国宇航局磁层多尺度使命和货车艾伦探测器的数据，结合快速极光SnapshoT Explorer对低海拔流出物的观测和集群进行交叉校准。这允许表征温暖等离子体斗篷离子的起源，它们的传输路径和可能的加热机制，以及控制因素（例如，偶极化）。将建立一个观测到的场对准的温暖的H+和O+人口的数据库，以解决上述三个科学问题。这项工作将扩展我们对内磁层内暖等离子体种群的理解，并为全球模拟和机器学习研究提供暖等离子体斗篷种群的重要特征属性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The radiation belts surrounding the Earth consist of different populations of particles. The warm plasma cloak is an ion population that plays a critical role in wave-particle interactions impacting magnetospheric dynamics. This work studies this population. The project is led by a mid-career female scientist who is returning to the space physics research field from the technology sector, addressing a goal of the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences to support mid-career scientists. The research group supported by this award includes several women scientists. A graduate student is supported.The main goal of this project is to: Identify the sources of the warm plasma cloak and the pathways and processes that lead to their characteristic distributions. To achieve the goal, the work will answer the following questions: (1) What are the circulation pathways of the warm plasma that bring it to the dayside magnetosphere? What are the characteristic distributions along their path? (2) Is the source of the warm plasma cloak plasma the direct outflow of ionospheric ions or the inward convection of the plasma sheet population? Is there heating observed during the transport? (3) What is the impact of depolarization in the warm plasma cloak formation? To understand the source and transport path of the warm plasma cloak population, the team will perform a statistical study of the field aligned low energy H+ and O+ throughout the inner magnetosphere, using data from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission and Van Allen Probes, combined with Fast Auroral SnapshoT Explorer observations of the outflows at lower altitude and Cluster for cross-calibration. This allows characterization of the origin of the warm plasma cloak ions, their transport pathways and possible heating mechanism, as well as the controlling factors (e.g. dipolarization). A database of observed field-aligned warm H+ and O+ population will be established to address the three science questions listed above. This work will extend our understanding of warm plasma populations within the inner magnetosphere and provide important characteristic properties of the warm plasma cloak population for global simulation and machine learning studies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.