Duskside plasmapause/ring current interface: Convection and plasma wave observations

Three time intervals have been selected during which the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE) Irm satellite traversed the plasmapause around 2130, 1900, and 1730 LT. The cold plasma density is monitored with the wave experiment whose frequency range includes the upper hybrid and the plasma frequencies; in this manner, the plasmapause is easily observed as a reduction in the plasma density from 10--100 cm-3 to 0--5 cm-3. The AMPTE IRM three-dimensional plasma instrument detects ions in the energy range 20 eV to 40 keV and allows the determination of the inner edge of the ring current ions, which penetrate the duskside plasmapause by 0.5--2 R/sub E/