A dynamic fluid-kinetic (DyFK) model for ionosphere-magnetosphere plasma transport: Effects of ionization and thermal electron heating by soft electron precipitation

In order to efficiently and self-consistently describe the transport of hig h-latitude ionospheric plasma into the magnetosphere, we have developed a D ynamic coupled Fluid-Kinetic (DyFK) model for describing plasma how along a magnetic flux tube. The collision-dominated ionospheric plasma is treated with a low-speed fluid approach for altitudes between 120-1100 km, while a generalized semikinetic approach is used for the topside and higher altitud es, starting at 800 km, This paper presents a description of the new DyFK m odel, along with illustrative results obtained from modeling the effects of soft (100 eV) auroral electron precipitation using the new model, The resu lts demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the new DyFK model and illus trate how soft electron precipitation provides a mechanism to drive observe d upflows of high-latitude ionospheric plasma along geomagnetic field lines .