Ridley, A. J., T. Gombosi, C. Clauer, D. DeZeeuw and K. Powell ``Neutral wind effects on magnetospheric convection and ionospheric Joule heating'', invited presentation at the Spring Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Washington, D. C., May, 2000.
Abstract: The thermospheric neutrals couple with the ionospheric plasma mainly via ion-neutral collisions. These collisions tend to force the neutrals and the ions to move in a similar manner. Because the neutrals have much more mass than the ions, they are thought to be large source of inertia. This coupling can then either keep the ions moving when the magnetospheric electric field is decreasing, or cause the ions to accelerate at a lower rate when the magnetospheric electric field is increasing. This is commonly known as the neutral wind fly-wheel effect. We use the newly coupled NCAR TIEGCM and University of Michigan BATSRUS MHD code to start to quantify the effects of the thermospheric neutral winds on the ionospheric and magnetospheric convection and Joule heating during steady and non-steady-state time periods. We examine the role of the neutral wind in determining the time-dependent flow speeds in the magnetosphere and ionosphere. In addition, we quantify the amount of energy coupling between the ionosphere-thermosphere system via Joule heating.
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