Retrieval of global magnetospheric ion distributions from high-energy neutral 
atom measurements made by the IMAGE/HENA instrument

R. DeMajistre, E. C. Roelof, P. C:son Brandt, D. G. Mitchell


In this work we present a method for retrieving global magnetospheric ion
distributions from energetic neutral atom measurements made by the IMAGE/HENA
instrument. The technique itself is based on the well-established method of
constrained linear inversion. In addition to presenting the technique itself, we
present a self-consistent method for its optimization. The combination of the
technique itself and the tuning process provides a direct measure of the
fidelity of the resulting retrievals. We apply these techniques to a
representative HENA image and show that the retrieval indeed quantifies the
global magnetospheric ion distributions.

_______________
Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, A04214, doi:10.1029/2003JA010322, 2004