CEDAR: Mesoscale Structuring of the High Latitude Plasma Patches

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

Over the last three years, a 3D nonlinear fluid code has been developed by the PIs to investigate the generation of small-scale size (1-100 km) irregularities in the high latitude plasma patches. This intermediate scale size regime, which is attributed to naturally occurring instabilities on the larger patch size scales, is of interest to the High Latitude Plasma Structure (HLPS) group of the NSF-sponsored CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of the Atmospheric Regions) initiative. The successful completion of the development of the 3D code, which has the potential for explaining many of the observed features now leads to a stage where detailed comparison with observations and realistic event modeling can be readily undertaken. Thus a three-year program is proposed to investigate the observed variability in the structuring. An important output from the 3D code is the characteristics of the fluctuations along the field line. Though unlikely that two satellites at different heights will be located along the same field line, a sampling of the relative amplitudes of the irregularities could provide a useful comparison with simulations.