PROTON-ELECTRON PRECIPITATION EFFECTS ON THE ELECTRON PRODUCTION AND DENSITY ABOVE EISCAT (TROMSO) AND ESR

The suprathermal particles, electrons and protons, coming from the Sun and precipitating into the high-latitude atmosphere are an energy sou rce for the Earth's ionosphere. They interact with the ambient thermal gas through inelastic and elastic collisions. Most of the physical qu antities perturbed by the precipitation, such as the electron producti on rate, may be evaluated by solving the stationary Boltzmann transpor t equation, which yields the particle fluxes as a function of altitude , energy, and pitch angle. This equation has been solved for the three different suprathermal species (electrons, protons and hydrogen atoms ). We first compare the results of our theoretical code to a coordinat ed DMSP/EISCAT experiment, and to another approach. Then, we show the effects that pure proton precipitation may have on the ionosphere, thr ough primary and secondary ionization. Finally, we compare the effects of proton precipitation and electron precipitation in some selected c ases above EISCAT (Tromso) and ESR.