Study of Electron fluxes in Ionosphere-Plasmasphere coupling from whistlers observed at low latitude ground station Jammu L= 1.17

Abstract

The downward flux of the ionization are measured by whistlers recorded at low latitude ground station Jammu (geomag lat 22⁰ 26^/) and L= 1.17, on 5 June 1997. The whistler data shows a variation in dispersion with time. This decrease in dispersion is interpreted in terms of a corresponding decrease in the electron content of tubes of ionization and is compared with that obtained by Park (1972, Technical Report, Stanford university) for mid latitudes. By Park’s (1972) expressions the equatorial electron density and electron tube content N_T values were computed. Our measurements from whistlers show an average downward flux 2.8×10⁸ electrons cm^-2 S^-1. The simple diffusion equation which relates the flux to the ionization gradient by the ambipolar diffusion coefficient is again computed shows that the flux computed is within an order of magnitude less than that derived from the dispersion data. It is, therefore, argued that other processes like E × B drifts should play a dominant role in controlling the transport of ionization at low latitudes.