Auroral electric field heating: Its implications in the altitude profile of ionic composition and emissions

We have studied the case of a bright auroral arc (peak ionization rate, approx. =105 cm-3 s-1) accompanied by an intense electric field (approx. =50 mV m-1), taking into account, in a simpleminded approximate way, the vertical upwelling of the neutrals produced by the heating. Our results show that the altitude profiles of the ion concentration and of the number densities of minor neutral constituents like N, NO, and O2(1E/subg/) depart significantly from their respective values when the vertical upwelling is neglected. It appears that dynamic and nonlocal effects associated with the heating should be taken into account in assessing the problems and paradoxes that arise in connection with the interpretation of the anomalously large O+ and NO densities and the intense 1.27-μ emission based upon equilibrium and local chemistry