The steady state electric potentials derived from empirical ionospheric onvection models were mapped to the magnetospheric equatorial plane and added to the Earth's rotational field to examine the local time dependence of the plasmapause radius. The last closed equipotential line was assumed to be the plasmapause. The sensitivity of plasmapause shape and size derived in this way was studied by ...

The plasmapause separates cold dense plasma in the inner magnetosphere from hot, low-density outer magnetosphere plasma. This boundary is very dynamic in response to changes in magnetospheric convection and other stormtime phenomena. The outer radiation belt is also dynamic during stormtime in terms of both radial location and energetic particle population. It is proposed that outer radiation b...

[1] We use simultaneous global observations of the mid-latitude trough and the plasmapause to experimentally prove a long-standing conjecture of magnetosphereionosphere couplingnamely the mid-latitude trough and plasmapause are on the same field line. Global Ionospheric Maps (GIM), generated using ground based GPS receivers, are used to detect the globally extended mid-latitude trough; while gl...

[1] The structure of the density discontinuity across the plasmapause is often based on electron and H density profiles with the contribution of heavy ions (He, O etc) neglected. Electron and ion density measurements in this region may differ significantly due to the presence of heavy ions and it is important for the intercomparison of different datasets to understand these differences. Dynamic...

[1] This paper discusses the use of ground magnetometer data to derive plasma mass density profiles of the dayside plasmapause region with spatial and temporal resolution in the range 0.15–0.4 RE and 20–60 min. This is achieved using cross-phase techniques to identify field line resonance signatures that are not apparent in power spectra. Under quiet conditions, mass density profiles do not sho...

Simulations of plasmapause formation described in Pierrard and Lemaire (2004) predict the shape and equatorial distance of the plasmapause as a function of the geomagnetic activity index Kp. The equatorial positions predicted by this model are compared with the observations of EUV/IMAGE during the geomagnetic storm of 24 May 2000, substorm events of 10 June 2001 and 25 June 2000, and also durin...

[1] Remote sensing of the entire plasmasphere is routinely accomplished by the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) imager on the IMAGE satellite. EUVobserves the helium distribution in the plasmasphere by detecting resonantly scattered solar 30.4-nm ultraviolet radiation. In EUV images the plasmapause is assumed to be the ‘‘ He edge,’’ i.e., the outermost sharp edge where the brightness of 30.4-nm He emi...

[1] A remarkable correlation between the inner edge of the outer radiation belt electrons and the innermost plasmapause location is demonstrated by using 12 years of measurements of MeV electrons from the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) and the Combined Radiation and Release Experiment Satellite (CRRES) during its entire mission (July 1990–October 1991). An empir...

[1] The extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imager on the IMAGE satellite provided the first global images of the plasmasphere leading to enhanced understanding of plasmapause structure and dynamics. However, few studies have investigated the structure and dynamics of the inner plasmasphere (regions interior to the plasmapause), which previous in situ observations have shown to often be highly structured...