The Ring Current

Abstract

It is proposed that the quiet-time ring current consists of two parts, the inner ring current imbedded deeply inside the plasmapause and the outer ring current flowing in the plasma sheet. The source of the inner ring current appears to be trapped protons with energies 100 keV to several hundred keV having their peak intensity at 3 to 4 R sub e. The dominant source of the outer ring current is the population of protons with energy near 50 keV in the plasma sheet, as in Frank's (1967) model for the extraterrestrial ring current. The outer ring current is an innermost part of the tail current, and the inner ring current is its earthward extension. The plasma pressure is nearly continuous from the plasma sheet to the inner current ring region. When the plasma sheet moves inward during a substorm, the plasma pressure increase is directly conveyed to inside the plasmasphere and intensifies the inner ring current.