J. Lilensten et M. Galand, PROTON-ELECTRON PRECIPITATION EFFECTS ON THE ELECTRON PRODUCTION AND DENSITY ABOVE EISCAT (TROMSO) AND ESR, Annales geophysicae, 16(10), 1998, pp. 1299-1307
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.