Coupling the Magnetosphere and Ionosphere Using Tomographic Imaging Technique 

E. Yizengaw and M.B. Moldwin 

Understanding the propagation of waves through the inner magnetosphere, which is
very important for communication satellites that are orbiting outside and inside
the magnetosphere, requires knowledge of the density structure of the
plasmasphere and the ionosphere. The global density structure of the inner
magnetosphere can be monitored using a combination of techniques that use
space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. The Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO)
satellites equipped with dual-band GPS receivers (e.g., FedSat, CHAMP, etc)
offer excellent opportunity for remote sensing and monitoring of the topside
ionospheric and plasmaspheric density structure using tomographic reconstruction
approach to the space-based GPS total electron content (TEC) data. This will
allow us to clearly quantify magnetosphere-ionosphere (M-I) coupling dynamics.
The two dimensional tomographic image of the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere
has revealed a spectacular beam like dayside ion outflow emanating from the cusp
region. This indicates that tomographic reconstruction techniques have the
ability to detect narrow ionospheric ion out flows between the ionosphere and
magnetosphere. It provides a new ability to image the flux tube structure of
ionospheric ion outflows, tracking flux tube structure from 0.13Reup to
3.17Realtitude for the first time. Tomographic reconstruction technique, in
combination with IMAGE EUV image, also provides very intriguing results that
show the plasmapause and the ionospheric mid-latitude trough are collocated.

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Global Aspects of Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling, 2006 Yosemite Workshop, 
Yosemite National Park, CA, USA, 7-10 February 2006